Uefa Champions League first round qualifier, first leg
IF SHAMROCK ROVERS are to launch another European odyssey, they will do it from the back foot.
Tonight they slipped to a 1-0 loss to Icelandic champions Breidablik at Tallaght Stadium, a game settled by Damir Muminovic’s scything first-half free-kick. Rovers were off-key for most of the opening half and overwhelmed during parts of it, with an increased intensity after the break not yielding enough clear-cut chances to earn a draw ahead of the second leg in a week’s time.
Defeat in this tie would greatly complicates Rovers ambitions to return to the Conference League group stage, as progression through the first round of the Champions League gives a generous safety net in which Rovers would need win just one more two-legged tie to be guaranteed group stage football. Immediate elimination from the Champions League, however, would condemn Rovers to the second qualifying round of the Conference League, fully three successful ties away from the groups.
The stakes are high next week.
Stephen Bradley flew to Iceland to watch Breidablik plot their way through the qualifying repechage and returned counselling caution and preaching his belief that tonight’s opponents were of the same level as the same Flora Tallinn side who so brutally ended Rovers’ European run two years ago.
Perhaps that night’s scar tissue prompted Bradley to pick the most experienced line-up he could, reinforcing midfield with Gary O’Neill, Markus Poom and Dylan Watts, with Jack Byrne fit to start and asked to load bullets for Rory Gaffney. Predicted visions of their partnership were formalised after 14 minutes: Byrne pitched a delightful ball in behind the Breidablik onto which Gaffney strode clear, but he smacked his shot right at the goalkeeper.
That was Rovers’ best moment of a first-half spent struggling for air. Breidablik played a back four out of possession but were bold and innovative when they had the ball, mimicking current fashion in folding full-backs into midfield – notably right-back and captain Hoskuldur Gunnlaugsson – to cause Rovers all manner of problems, flipping from their in-possession 4-2-3-1 to to something resembling the redeemed W-M of yesteryear.
Rovers were beaten back, hemmed in by the Breidablik press and forced to defend doggedly, conceding nine corners. Breidablik should have taken an early lead from one of those early corners, but Leon Pohls blocked a free header inside the box from Klaemint Olsen.
The pressure ratcheted up as the first-half continued, but maddeningly for Rovers, they helped turn the screw to the point where the first rivets started popping. Under pressure once again, Rovers went long to relieve the pressure: Rory Gaffney duly obliged before then reneging on the agreement. Gaffney did brilliantly to hold the ball up and draw a foul from the defender, but he then took the free-kick quickly and rolled the ball right to a Breidablik player. The referee offered no mercy and Daniel Cleary fouled Olsen in a panic. The free-kick was 30 yards from goal and it was struck lazily – beautifully – by centre-back Damir Muminovic and sailed by Pohls and into the net. Pohls gestured angrily at his wall, which had bafflingly peeled apart.
The latest Iceland-adjacent eruption may have been Stephen Bradley at half-time. Rovers sprang out from the dressing room and instantly raised their intensity levels. This Champions League tie was the first game involving a League of Ireland side to feature VAR, and the crowd were instantly furious it wasn’t used to check what appeared to be a handball in the box by Muminovic.
Rovers took control of the game’s territory without creating much, and Bradley turned to Graham Burke on the hour mark. Burke brought some belated work out of Anton Einarsson, sending a trivela arcing awkwardly toward goal, which the goalkeeper to claw both away from goal and the loitering Gaffney.
Burke was too slow to react to a glorious opening as the game approached its final quarter: Rovers won the ball in midfield but Burke was slightly too slow to react to a prodded ball through the last line of Breidablik’s defence.
Rovers were grateful moments later when Lopes reacted in the box when Pohls spilled a stinging drive from range, putting just enough pressure on Olsen to convince him to flop lamely in search of a penalty. The referee was justifiably unmoved.
Rovers continued to toil late on, with Markus Poom’s slick roll and shot in the box denied by a brave block from substitute defender Amor Adalsteinsson. Sean Kavanagh screwed a late shot over the crossbar when he had been set clear by a lovely Byrne pass, but the offside flag spared Kavanagh any regrets over the quality of his finish.
Kavanagh’s next touch was sweet, a rasping first-time volley from outside the box that Einarsson pushed around the post. By his stage Gaffney and been swapped for Johnny Kenny, who pounced on a loose ball but shot right at Einarsson with no better option around him.
A sharp improvement will be needed next week.
Shamrock Rovers: Leon Pohls; Sean Hoare, Roberto Lopes, Daniel Cleary; Ronan Finn (captain) (Richie Towell, 71′); Dylan Watts (Graham Burke, 60′), Gary O’Neill, Markus Poom; Sean Kavanagh; Jack Byrne, Rory Gaffney (Johnny Kenny, 86′)
Breidablik: Anton Einarsson; Hoskuldur Gunnlaugsson, Damir Muminovic (Arnor Sveinn Adalsteinsson 73′), Viktor Orn Margeirsson, Andri Yeoman; Viktor Karl Einarsson, Oliver Sigurjonsson, Gisli Eyjolfsson; Jason Dadi Svanthorsson (Agust Hlynsson, 66′), Klaemint Olsen, Kristinn Steindorsson (David Ingvarsson, 86′)
Referee: Chrysovalantis Theouli
Attendance: 7216
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