COMING UP ON three hours after the game kicked off, Shamrock Rovers finally edged ahead of Ilves, the decisive penalty of an epic shoot-out that saw them advance through the Europa League’s first qualifying round.
Joey O’Brien converted the 26th penalty of the shoot-out to cap an improbable 12-11 win after the sides had been level at 2-2 after extra time.
Rovers, who had Liam Scales sent off just before the 90 minutes ended 2-2, had twice fallen behind to the Finnish club and had to withstand intense pressure in extra time to make it to the gripping deciding penalties. With takers stepping up a second time, Alan Mannus – an earlier scorer himself, made himself the hero with a save at 11-11 before O’Brien finished the job.
And a hell of a difficult job it was. The evening got off to a dreadful start for Shamrock Rovers as O’Brien’s handball gave Ilves the chance to take the lead from the penalty spot inside nine minutes.
Lauri Ala-Myllymäki duly converted, but Rovers sparked into a backlash. Aaron Greene went close before Graham Burke fired in the host’s first equaliser of the night, turning inside the box to curl smartly to the corner on 14 minutes.
The striker almost had the net bulging again five minutes later, but this time Hillander managed to stretch to bat away his fizzing free-kick.
The tails were up and Burke was again the man posting problems for the visitors as he had a strong penalty shout waved off with not yet a quarter of the game gone.
However, with conditions deteriorating under heavy rain, Ilves welcomed the disruption to the game’s rhythm and the sides entered the half-time break all square at 1-1.
Come the hour, fears grew that the night would turn into a damp squib for Rovers as Joona Veteli drove in a clinical finish from the edge of the area to give his side the lead.
Again, the home side ramped up their attacking intent and brought waves of pressure to the Tampere side before Roberto Lopes turned in a low Jack Byrne corner.
13 minutes remained, but there was to be no regular time winner for Rovers. And Liam Scales was issued a red card before the full-time whistle.
The home side went into extra-time with 10 men and had to scramble to keep parity with their guests, but by clinging on long enough to the 120th minute – and on to the 26th penalty – the Hoops earned their place in the next stage.
