Champions League second qualifying round, second leg
Qarabag 1
Shelbourne 0
Qarabag win 4-0- on aggregate
SHELBOURNE WILL FACE Croatian champions Rijeka in the third qualifying round of the Europa League after both sides dropped out of Champions League contention tonight.
Joey O’Brien’s side will be away in the first leg next Wednesday before the return in Dublin the following week, with confirmation from the club that it will be held at Tolka Park and not Tallaght Stadium on 12 August.
Rijeka were beaten 3-1 by Ludogorets after extra-time and also had two men sent off, among them promising Croatia Under-21 striker Gabriel Rukavina.
The Shels players satisfied the first demand of O’Brien in their second leg by not doing anything silly early on and making a compact, resolute start against Qarabag.
The Azerbaijani giants had a 3-0 lead from Dublin and it told, meandering their way through the game before eventually finding a way through on the stroke of half time due to the class of midfielder Kady.
A penalty save from the same player’s spot-kick midway through the second half was a welcome way for goalkeeper Wessel Speel to mark his full debut for Shels, and there was so nearly an equaliser for their efforts in the 94th minute only for Dan Kelly to blaze a volley over the crossbar.
And that was this tie in a nutshell – Qarabag the superior side and when they needed it their class shone through. Allied with defensive lapses from the League of Ireland champions, Shels were always kept at arm’s length.
With Conor Kearns likely to remain on the sidelines for the next few weeks Speel’s performance should put him in pole position to retain a starting place for the Europa League third-round qualifier.
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That’s why it was important to take any kind of positive from this clash in Baku going forward for the remainder of the campaign.
One will be that Shels won’t face a side of the same quality as Qarabag, who have qualified for the league/group phase of European competition for 11 consecutive seasons, although Ludogrets did manage to score four times against them over two legs in an 8-4 aggregate defeat last season.
The Azerbaijani champions didn’t need to come out flying with that three-goal lead but they might have hoped to kill off any remaining resolve with an early goal.
That didn’t come, and as the first half wore on the sense was a goalless draw was most likely.
Shels made a raft of changes from last week, eight in total, and Speel’s debut was the standout after arriving from Minnesota United on the eve of the first leg.
The Dutch native didn’t have a save to make and even when the deadlock was broken in the 44th minute he had no chance of keeping it out.
From Qarabag’s first corner kick of the game it was played short and the influential Kady had the chance to cause some damage.
From a standing start on the left, just outside the box, the gifted Brazilian faced off against Shels skipper Mark Coyle.
A swivel of the hips and sharp shimmy left Coyle for dead, a tug of the jersey as he entered the area couldn’t halt the Qarabag man’s momentum and his drilled cross was turned into his own net at the near post by John Martin.
He needed to make some contact as striker Nariman Akhundzade was right behind waiting for a tap in but the forward’s attempt at a headed clearance left Speel picking the ball out of the net.
It wasn’t the moment that settled the tie – the final 10 minutes in Tolka Park did that – but after a solid opening 44 minutes it was a disheartening way to fall behind on the night.
Speel was called into action seven minutes after the break when he was at full stretch low to his left to make a fingertip save from Leandro Andrade’s curling effort.
Shels were under pressure but still finding opportunities to attack and their best passing move should have resulted in an equaliser on 56 minutes when James Norris got to the endline and pulled it back for Kerr McInroy who strode onto the ball but hit his shot from 10 yards out straight at goalkeeper Mateusz Kochalski.
It would have been a moment for the 60 or so travelling supporters to celebrate, although one did come on 68 minutes when Speel guessed correctly to save Kady’s tame penalty after Kameron Ledwidge raised his arm in the box to stop Matheus Silva’s dinked cross.
Kelly had that late moment under the lights when a cross from deep found him advancing off the right with loads of space in the box.
His effort was off target and there was no consolation, O’Brien’s side are now searching for more than that during the remainder of this European campaign.
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Shelbourne to face Croatian champions Rijeka in Europa League qualifiers
Champions League second qualifying round, second leg
Qarabag 1
Shelbourne 0
Qarabag win 4-0- on aggregate
SHELBOURNE WILL FACE Croatian champions Rijeka in the third qualifying round of the Europa League after both sides dropped out of Champions League contention tonight.
Joey O’Brien’s side will be away in the first leg next Wednesday before the return in Dublin the following week, with confirmation from the club that it will be held at Tolka Park and not Tallaght Stadium on 12 August.
Rijeka were beaten 3-1 by Ludogorets after extra-time and also had two men sent off, among them promising Croatia Under-21 striker Gabriel Rukavina.
The Shels players satisfied the first demand of O’Brien in their second leg by not doing anything silly early on and making a compact, resolute start against Qarabag.
The Azerbaijani giants had a 3-0 lead from Dublin and it told, meandering their way through the game before eventually finding a way through on the stroke of half time due to the class of midfielder Kady.
A penalty save from the same player’s spot-kick midway through the second half was a welcome way for goalkeeper Wessel Speel to mark his full debut for Shels, and there was so nearly an equaliser for their efforts in the 94th minute only for Dan Kelly to blaze a volley over the crossbar.
And that was this tie in a nutshell – Qarabag the superior side and when they needed it their class shone through. Allied with defensive lapses from the League of Ireland champions, Shels were always kept at arm’s length.
With Conor Kearns likely to remain on the sidelines for the next few weeks Speel’s performance should put him in pole position to retain a starting place for the Europa League third-round qualifier.
That’s why it was important to take any kind of positive from this clash in Baku going forward for the remainder of the campaign.
One will be that Shels won’t face a side of the same quality as Qarabag, who have qualified for the league/group phase of European competition for 11 consecutive seasons, although Ludogrets did manage to score four times against them over two legs in an 8-4 aggregate defeat last season.
The Azerbaijani champions didn’t need to come out flying with that three-goal lead but they might have hoped to kill off any remaining resolve with an early goal.
That didn’t come, and as the first half wore on the sense was a goalless draw was most likely.
Shels made a raft of changes from last week, eight in total, and Speel’s debut was the standout after arriving from Minnesota United on the eve of the first leg.
The Dutch native didn’t have a save to make and even when the deadlock was broken in the 44th minute he had no chance of keeping it out.
From Qarabag’s first corner kick of the game it was played short and the influential Kady had the chance to cause some damage.
From a standing start on the left, just outside the box, the gifted Brazilian faced off against Shels skipper Mark Coyle.
A swivel of the hips and sharp shimmy left Coyle for dead, a tug of the jersey as he entered the area couldn’t halt the Qarabag man’s momentum and his drilled cross was turned into his own net at the near post by John Martin.
He needed to make some contact as striker Nariman Akhundzade was right behind waiting for a tap in but the forward’s attempt at a headed clearance left Speel picking the ball out of the net.
It wasn’t the moment that settled the tie – the final 10 minutes in Tolka Park did that – but after a solid opening 44 minutes it was a disheartening way to fall behind on the night.
Speel was called into action seven minutes after the break when he was at full stretch low to his left to make a fingertip save from Leandro Andrade’s curling effort.
Shels were under pressure but still finding opportunities to attack and their best passing move should have resulted in an equaliser on 56 minutes when James Norris got to the endline and pulled it back for Kerr McInroy who strode onto the ball but hit his shot from 10 yards out straight at goalkeeper Mateusz Kochalski.
It would have been a moment for the 60 or so travelling supporters to celebrate, although one did come on 68 minutes when Speel guessed correctly to save Kady’s tame penalty after Kameron Ledwidge raised his arm in the box to stop Matheus Silva’s dinked cross.
Kelly had that late moment under the lights when a cross from deep found him advancing off the right with loads of space in the box.
His effort was off target and there was no consolation, O’Brien’s side are now searching for more than that during the remainder of this European campaign.
Qarabag: Mateusz Kochalski; Matheus Silva, Bahlul Mustafazade, Kevin Medina, Elvin Jafarguliyev; Pedro Bicalho, Kady; Leandro Andrade, Emmanuel Addai, Abdellah Zoubir (captain); Nariman Akhundzade.
Shelbourne: Wessel Speel; Lewis Temple, Sam Bone, Kameron Ledwidge; Dan Kelly, Mark Coyle (captain), Kerr McInroy (JJ Lunney 62), Ellis Chapman, James Norris (Evan Caffrey 71); John Martin (Harry Wood 62); Mipo Odubeko (Sean Boyd 62).
Referee: Andrea Colombo (Italy).
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