In the first leg of the Uefa Conference League playoff, St Patrick’s Athletic held Istanbul Basaksehir FK to a nil-nil draw. Their advancement to the Uefa Conference League group stages, a first in the club’s history, is now reliant on securing a win when they play at the Fatih Terim Stadium next Wednesday. A second-leg play-off victory may also yield a €4 million jackpot for the popular Inchicore club.
This achievement will not come easily, however, despite a commendable display by the team on instruction from their manager, Stephen Kenny. The task will require them to replicate this performance in what is likely to be a challenging environment just days after a league game against Dundalk in Oriel Park. This latter match has urged the Football Association of Ireland into a difficult position to possibly rearrange the fixture.
The praise deserved by Kenny for his apt management of the Republic of Ireland team was clearly visible in his successful strategies against France and the Netherlands the previous year. Under Kenny’s guidance, St Pat’s showed an assertive and prepared plan against Basaksehir, though unfortunately, they failed to convert their opportunities into goals.
The potential of young player Mason Melia, still just 16 years in age and yet to debut for Ireland’s Under-21, was on full view as he rivaled Hamza Güreler during the match. His three unsuccessful attempts to score in the first half were still demonstrative of a promising talent that is ready to master defenders of this league.
The young forward’s initial chance came when Chris Forrester’s successful tackle and pass enabled Zachary Elbouzedi to deliver an exact cross to Melia. Despite making a good connection, his effort went wide off Muhammad Sengezer’s goal.
Jamie Lennon and Forrester were quick to penalise early attempts by the Turkish side to manoeuvre out of defence. The following chance was seized by Jake Mulraney, noticeably aided by Melia’s robust possession skills, yet he missed the goal, shooting wildly over it.
A hallmark spectacular goal was nearly netted by Forrester, his shot marginally missing after a corner was won by Anto Breslin’s hardworking play. Alone in his vicinity, Brian Kerr – the previous manager of St Pat’s and the Irish team – appeared to be in agreement with his successor, the recently appointed Heimar Hallgrímsson, and his deputy, John O’Shea.
These figures, who represent the Irish coaching history, sat with each other. Last week, Hallgrímsson confided to his supporters that despite the outcome of his new position, O’Shea should be his successor. The Icelandic national also revealed his worries about securing a rental in Dublin, a predicament that most of the 6,219 spectators could empathise with.
A golden opportunity for Melia arrived thirty minutes into the match. He managed to steal the ball from Onur Ergun, before being nudged away by Brazilian defender Léo Duarte. This appeared crucial for St Pat’s to progress in their European football journey.
The Basaksehir coach, Cagdas Atan, exhibited distress on the field’s edge. However, Güreler’s perfect tackle on Melia after Elbouzedi’s numerous attacks from the right side would likely have pleased him.
The latter half of the game didn’t look promising for St Pat’s, mainly due to Romal Palmer’s hobbling exit, substituted by Irish under-21 player, Kian Leavy.
Tom Grivosti was shown a yellow card for tripping Berkay Özcan just outside of St Pat’s territory within three minutes of the restart. The ensuing free-kick by Dimitris Pelkas, however, struck the wall.
In the Uefa club coefficient ranking, Basaksehir stands much higher than St Pat’s – 291 places higher to be exact – and this became prominent under a heavy rain shower. Özcan and the Polish forward, Krzysztof Piatek, coordinated well, demanding passes into their feet. Consequently, St Pat’s was compelled to fall back.
In a surprising turn, Leavy dashed from the right, skilfully eluding two Turkish defenders and blasted a shot that narrowly missed the target, hitting the post.
Shortly afterwards, Piatek made a claim for a penalty at the opposite end due to Joseph Anang’s forceful touch which almost jeopardised their team’s outcome. The match was now highly chaotic. Another powerful attempt had been thwarted by a mass of players from St Pat’s against Basaksehir after Mulraney made it. Atan brought Brazilian player João Figueiredo into the game, whose role as a forward is assured to begin in Istanbul.
With only 20 minutes left, a rather uncommon scene unfolded where referee Mohammed Al-emara was swapped for the fourth official, Peiman Simani. Subsequently, this led to a 10-minute injury-time, thus keeping the incredibly thrilling yet un-broadcasted match hanging in the balance until the final signal.
The competeing teams were composed of:
St Patrick’s Athletic: Anang, Sjoberg, Grivosti, Redmond, Breslin, Palmer (substituted by Leavy 45), Lennon, Forrester (substituted by Bolger 92), Elbouzedi, Melia (subsituted by Keena 92), and Mulraney (substituted by Kavanagh 98).
Istanbul Basaksehir: Sengezer, Duarte, Gureler, Opoku, Sahiner (substituted by Lima 83), Pelkas (substituted by Gurler 83), Ergun, Ozcan (substituted by Ozdemir 92), Turuc, Piatek (subsituted by Keny 92), and Davidson (substituted by Figueiredo 62).
The match was refereed by Mohammed Al-emara from Finland.