St Patrick's Athletic manager Pat Dolan paid tribute to the resolve of his players, who refused to be overawed by an intimidating atmosphere at Celtic Park. However, despite a famous result, Dolan was quick to play down expectations ahead of the second leg in Dublin next week.

"We're not getting carried away, but I'm proud of what we've achieved tonight," Dolan said. "There's quality everywhere you look in the Celtic team, so this performance can only help drag our own game out of the dark ages.

"We played with real passion and spirit, and I can say without doubt we'll never forget the night we came to Celtic Park. But we know Celtic will be fired up for the second leg. We're delighted, though, that the tie is alive for Dublin when they thought they would have a comfortable lead."

New Celtic head coach Jozef Venglos made a personal apology to his club's fans.

"I'm sorry for our fans after the support that they gave us, but I'm sure that the players will do their best in the next game. We did not underestimate St Patrick's, but we wanted a better result. Yet in football you get games like that.

"They showed determination as a team and showed we were right to respect them, but it will be different next time - it must be different."

Shelbourne manager Dermot Keely admitted he could hardly believe his eyes after his side went 3-0 up against Rangers, and he felt Jorg Albertz's first penalty coming so soon after the third goal was the turning point in their 5-3 defeat.

"I saw Dick Advocaat sitting with his head in his hands when it was 3-0, and that was worth the admission money alone," he joked.

"It was absolutely fantastic to go three goals up against a team of superstars, and I had to keep pinching myself because I felt the scoreline was the wrong way round.

"At 3-0 I thought we were really going to win it, but giving the goal away so soon after we had scored, cost us. We lost that little bit of composure and made a few mistakes, but overall the boys were absolutely fantastic."

"When you think about who we were playing against and the fact that we were playing away from home, with all the odds against us, we did fantastic."

Keely played down the trouble outside the Prenton Park before the game. "There were a few bottles thrown at the bus going in, but there are yobs everywhere," he said. "I just hope all the fans go to Ibrox and enjoy themselves, because we came here to play football and nothing else."