Bruising defeat for Dublin's finest

St Patrick's Athletic suffered another crushing 5-0 defeat at the hands of FC Zimbru in the return leg of the Champions League…

St Patrick's Athletic suffered another crushing 5-0 defeat at the hands of FC Zimbru in the return leg of the Champions League first qualifying round in Chisinau, Moldova, yesterday.

Two first-half goals from Boris Tropanets and a third from Vadim Borets gave Zimbru a 3-0 lead at the break. There was clearly no way back for St Patrick's as Borets claimed a second before a late penalty from Igo Oprea on 83 minutes brought it to five, much to the delight of the 10,000 home supporters.

After a similar defeat by the Moldovan side in Richmond Park last week, St Patrick's lose on a 10-0 aggregate while Zimbru go on to play Dynamo Tbilisi of Georgia in the second qualifying round.

Ian O'Riordan

Ian O'Riordan

Ian O'Riordan is an Irish Times sports journalist writing on athletics