Ajax loom for Shelbourne after first Conference League mission completed

John Russell’s Reds did the legwork in last week’s first leg at Tolka Park by racking up a 5-2 lead over Nõmme Kalju

Daniel Kelly celebrates with team-mate Kerr McInroy after scoring Shelbourne's first goal during the Uefa Conference League Second Qualifying Round second leg match against Kalju  at Pärnu Rannastaadion in Parnu, Estonia. Pic: Evaldas Semiotas/Sportsfile

UEFA Conference League second qualifying round, second leg: Nõmme Kalju 2 (Enrique Esono 49, Ibrahim Jabir 75) Shelbourne 1 (Daniel Kelly 17) Shelbourne win 6-4 on aggregate.

Shelbourne are through to face Ajax into the Uefa Conference League next week despite losing their second leg in Estonia.

John Russell’s Reds did the legwork in last week’s first meeting at Tolka Park when racking up a 5-2 lead over Nõmme Kalju.

They extended that buffer to four goals by taking the lead at Pärnu Rannastaadion through Daniel Kelly’s close-range finish on 14 minutes after being presented with a gift by goalkeeper Henri Perk They seemed to be cruising when Ukrainian Oleksandr Musolitin was sent off on the half hour for a late challenge on Evan Caffrey but the hosts staged a belated second-half comeback.

Enrique Esono added to last week’s brace by equalising on the night within four minutes of the restart following a litany of defensive lapses.

Youngster Dan Ring, one of three interval substitutes made by new manager Russell, was inches from restoring the Shels lead when he charged clear, only to see his low slip rebound off the post.

Kalju substitute Ibrahim Jabir then pounced to make it 2-1 with a header, setting up a nervy last 15 minutes for the 2024 League of Ireland champions.

Yet, they held firm, coughing up only one chance in stoppage time that Nikita Ivanov struck the crossbar with.

Shels head to Waterford for Sunday’s league match next before the Johan Cruyff Arena in Amsterdam on Thursday. The late legend’s son, Jordi, has been five months in the post of technical director, desperately attempting to halt a malaise that saw the four-times European Cup winners finish fifth in last season’s Eredivisie.

Ajax suffered no similar hiccups to Shels in seeing out their three-goal first-leg cushion by beating Vojvodina Novi Sad 4-1 to the 55,865-capacity stadium tonight.

The second leg is set for August 13 and the Irish side will remain in Tolka Park for what will be a huge occasion. Restrictions reduce their capacity to around 4,000, raising a debate about switching the game to Tallaght where they were temporarily based for the group phase of last season’s Conference League but Uefa have given Tolka the green light.

Meanwhile, Derry City’s European campaign is over after they fell to a successive 1-0 defeat to Rijeka. Just as the Candystripes were getting into stride to cancel out the deficit, a defensive error by Cameron Dummigan presented English striker Daniel Adu-Adjei with a sight to deepen Derry’s task. 

After losing their Europa League clash against CSKA Sofia, this parachute in the Conference League wasn’t seized upon to reach the third round.

NOMME KALJU: H Perk; D Mashchenko (P Sotsugov h/t), M Podholjuzin, R Vukusic, A Borolinstsikov (N Nikolajev 67); R Siht, O Musolitin, B Vaštšuk (T Tambedou 74), T Baptista (N Ivanov 62); P Orlov (I Jabir 63), E Esono.

SHELBOURNE: E Beach; M Mbeng, P Barrett (O Casey h/t), K Ledwidge, J Norris (S Gannon 72; D Kelly (D Jarvis 46), K McInroy (JJ Lunney 62), A Coote; E Caffrey, R Freitas (D Ring 46), S Moore.

Ref: Jóhan Hendrik Ellefsen (Faroes).