John Kenny's equaliser keeps Rovers unbeaten Europa Conference League run alive

EQUALISER: Rovers' Johnny Kenny celebrates scoring his sides first goal with Darragh Burns. Picture: ©INPHO/Ryan Byrne

Europa Conference League: Rapid Wien 1 (Cvetkovic 9') Shamrock Rovers 1 (Kenny 55')

Shamrock Rovers came from behind to maintain their unbeaten run in the Europa Conference League with a stunning second half performance in Vienna and thanks to frontman, Kenny, who proved Johnny on the spot as the on-loan Celtic man grabbed the all-important equaliser.

The hosts who had a 100% record prior to the clash were seen as a step up in quality to what Stephen Bradley’s charges had met to date and, although it had been three weeks since their last competitive game, The Hoops showed no signs of ring rust against a strong side who are in season and boasting a number of full Internationals.

Rovers signalled their intent from the off going straight at the heart of their opponents with Johnny Kenny showing great pace to get in behind, although his touch let him down at the crucial moment.

But the hosts showed their quality responding to this scare, crashing two powerful strikes off the frame of the goal within the first nine minutes before eventually taking the lead.

Skipper Mattias Seidl was first to hit the post, before the powerful midfielder Mamadou Sangare rattled the crossbar.

The ball rebounded to Guido Burgstaller who was next up to try his luck volleying towards the near post but was denied sharply by Leon Pohls.

From the resulting corner Rovers failed to clear on a couple of occasions as the ball sat up slightly behind Rapid’s centre back, Nenad Cvetkovic, who showed incredible agility to wrap his foot around the ball and smash home an unstoppable volley into the roof of the net.

The recently crowned PFA Ireland player-of-the-year Dylan Watts looked cool, calm and collected on the ball trying his best to wrestle some possession back in his sides favour but anytime his side tried to launch an attack were met by the classy midfield duo Lukas Grgic and Mamadou Sangare who mopped up pretty much everything and restart the one-way traffic.

The visitors showed great resilience to dig in and keep the score to one at the break, but all this hard work was nearly undone minutes after the break when the Hungarian official Gergo Bogar pointed to the spot for an alleged handball on Gary O’Neill but luckily VAR was on hand to correct the on field decision with the ball clearly hitting the holding midfielder in the stomach.

Much improved in the second half, The Hoops then sent their 700-plus travelling support delirious as Joshua Honohan bombed forward down the left and delivered a deliciously inviting low ball across the six-yard box finding Kenny who bundled home from close range following some clever movement in the area.

The shell-shocked home side almost regained the advantage from another dangerous set piece as frontman Dion Beljo nipped in front of Pohls but saw his header hit the top of the crossbar and sail over as frustration began to swirl around the Weststadion.

Not content with just frustrating the home side and holding on for a point, Rovers almost snatched the lead on two occasions in the last ten-minutes. The pace of Kenny continued to terrify the Rapid backline almost took advantage of a sloppy throw in, hitting early from out wide left and almost caught Niklas Hedl out as the ball bounced up before him and off the near post.

Showing great energy, Kenny then turned sharply on the halfway line before showing a clean pair of heels to the chasing defenders but saw his left footed strike brilliantly saved by the feet of Hedl, Stephen Bradley and his staff will have a couple of weeks to reset and recover as they look forward to another huge night in this famous European run as they host Borac Banja Luka of Bosnia & Herzegovina on December 12th.

SK Rapid: Niklas Hedl; Bendeguz Bolla, Nenad Cvetkovic, Serge-Phillippe Raux-Yao, Jonas Auer; Mattias Seidl (Nikolaus Wurmbrand, 88’), Lukas Grgic, Mamadou Sangare, Louis Schaub (Dennis Kaygin, 67’); Dion Beljo, Guido Burgstaller (Noah Bischof, 67’) 

Subs not used: Paul Gartler, Benjamin Goschi, Benjamin Bockle, Jacob Scholler, Christoph Lang, Tobias Borkeelet, Thierry Gale, Max Hofmann, Moritz Oswald 

Shamrock Rovers: Leon Pohls; Dan Cleary, Roberto Lopes, Lee Grace; Joshua Honohan, Dylan Watts (Jack Byrne, 88’), Gary O’Neill (Darragh Nugent, 75’), Markus Poom, Darragh Burns (Trevor Clarke, 88’); Neil Farrugia, Johnny Kenny 

Subs not used: Lee Steacy, Alex Noonan, Sean Kavanagh, Cory O’Sullivan, Conan Noonan, Matthew Britton 

Referee: Gergo Bogar (Hungary)