Heartbreak for St Pat’s as European ambitions are shattered in Turkey
Well, there goes that dream. On the edge of the continent, St Patrick’s Athletic stood on the brink of history but fell agonisingly short.
There will be no European groupstage football later this year, nor next, with this defeat in Istanbul all but ending the Saints’ season.
Stephen Kenny’s men battled bravely but second-half goals from Omer Ali Sahiner and Olivier Kemen ended their hopes of European group-stage football for the first time in the club’s history, while they finished the tie with 10 men after Aaron Bolger’s straight red card (pictured) – just four minutes after coming on.
Sixteen-year-old Mason Melia and Kian Leavy had opportunities to put the visitors ahead before the break, but the hosts enjoyed the better chances overall in front of 6,160 at the Basaksehir Fatih Terim stadium, which included the 100 Saints fans who made the pilgrimage.
Early on, Zach Elbouzedi opened up a pocket of space on the edge of the box. The Ireland U-21 cap crossed to Melia in front of goal, but the striker’s shot was tame.
Krzysztof Piatek, capped 30 times by Poland, saw his header fly over Joseph Anang’s goal minutes later as the hosts began to threaten.
Basaksehir tried to find their forwards through a series of long balls, but the Saints’ backline, led by skipper Joe Redmond, held firm as Greek international Dimitrios Pelkas skied an effort high and wide on 20 minutes.
Another bursting run by Elbouzedi down the right got the Saints moving again, as the winger’s cross was diverted before Leavy, Kenny’s only change from the first leg, saw his follow-up effort well blocked.
Kenny’s men were finding some joy on the counter, and Leavy capitalised on an error, charged down on goal, but scuffed his effort wide. The Turkish outfit twice went close to taking the lead as midfielder Berkay Ozcan rounded Anang but saw his effort bravely cleared off the line by Axel Sjoberg – the Saints right-full painfully colliding with the post in the process.
Kemen then unleashed a goal-bound shot only to see it blocked by his own player, Piatek.
There were huge penalty claims from the hosts five minutes before the interval as Anto Breslin appeared to block Pelkas’ driving shot with his arm, but the Hungarian referee dismissed the protests.
St Pat’s had done well to hold out, but just after the hour mark the deadlock was broken.
Basaksehir captain Ali Sahiner got in behind the Saints’ backline courtesy of a deflection, and stuck the ball past Anang – the first goal Kenny’s men had conceded in 334 minutes of European football.
Things went from bad to worse 17 minutes later as Bolger was shown a straight red for bringing Kemen to the ground. With the next attack, Kemen headed in his side’s second from Lucas Lima’s cross and with that, it was game over for the Saints.
ISTANBUL BASAKSEHIR: Sengezer; Duarte (Kemen 7), Gureler, Opoku, Ali Sahiner (Ozdemir 76); Pelkas (Lima 77), Ergun, Ozcan; Turuc, Piatek (Keny 77), Davidson (Figueiredo 70).
ST PAT’S: Anang; Sjoberg, Redmond, Grivosti, Breslin; Lennon, Forrester (Bolger 77); Mulraney (B Kavanagh 77), Leavy, Elbouzedi (Kazeem 88); Melia (Keena 68). REF: Balazs Berke (Hungary).