SOCCER: EUROPA LEAGUE: St Patrick's Ath 2, IBV O:PETE MAHON and his St Patrick's Athletic side earned themselves the rather dubious reward of a 10,000km round trip to Kazakhstan next week by winning this Europa League first qualifying round tie in Richmond Park last night. Goals from Ian Daly and Daire Doyle got them through; quite how they get to Karagandy next Thursday is another's day's work.

“We’re looking at a busy day trying to organise it all alright,” said Mahon after a win that stretched to eight their unbeaten run in European games at their Inchicore home, “but we wanted to stay in the competition and I’m very proud of my players tonight.

“It’s looking likely to be three flights each way and the game against Bohemians next week will probably be called off because we mightn’t get back until the Saturday but we’ll deal with it. People talk about Kazakhstan but we don’t care, we’d have gone to Timbuktu if we’d had to.”

Mahon had said before the game the home side’s plan would be to keep things tight then step up the search for goals as the night wore on but the players seemed to have other ideas with the hosts pushing forward from the outset and creating a succession of scoring chances albeit at the cost of allowing their opponents a few too.

The visitors stuck with the three-man frontline they had employed last Thursday but changed their goalkeeper with Uganda’s Abel Dhaira coming in for Albert Saevarsson. Neither move ended up looking that inspired with the Dubliners dominating in midfield where they held a comfortable numerical advantage for the best part of the night while Dhaira never looked all that convincing, particular when facing the sort of menacing crosses that led to the two first-half goals.

Daly got the first from close range midway to the break when a Stephen Bradley free was missed by Evan McMillan but retrieved well by Daryl Kavanagh who then recovered possession after losing it briefly and darted past his man to the line. He chipping into the six yard box where the goalkeeper attempted to push the ball clear. Having managed to get very little power behind his touch, though, he then was helpless when Daly quickly adjusted his position to improvise a volley that flew into the top right corner.

The defending was no better for the second 12 minutes later when another Bradley free was flicked on by Danny North, then turned back across the face of the goal by McMillan for Doyle to head home.

Given the extent to which they were on top at that stage, the locals were worth their lead but they still lived terribly dangerously around their own goal at times. Gary Rogers did very well to save with an outstretched leg when Ian Bermingham appeared, under pressure from Tryggvi Gudmundsson, to get the final touch on what was an excellent low cross by Matt Garner. When Gudmundsson missed the target minutes later, though, the locals had no excuses with poor defending, not least by Bermingham, contributing much to the opportunity.

There were further chances for both sides as the evening wore on but it was the home side that generally looked the more likely to score thanks to the speed of their movement in midfield and the greater width of their play.

On the right Kavanagh was outstanding but the 24-year-old should have rounded off a good night by making the tie safe 19 minutes into the second period when North set him up for a shot that he teed up nicely by stepping inside his man only to fire low across the face of the goal and well wide.

The upshot was that Mahon’s men had to endure a bit of pressure over the closing stages as the Icelanders chased the solitary goal they needed to progress but Rogers scarcely had to make another save until the dying seconds when Garner might easily have done better than shooting straight at the goalkeeper from 10 yards out.

ST PATRICK'S ATHLETIC: Rogers; Pender, E McMillan, Shortall (Murphy, 83 mins), Bermingham; McFaul, Bradley; Kavanagh, Daly (Crowley, 76 mins), Doyle; North (D McMillan, 87 mins).

IBV VESTMANNAEYJAR: Dhaira; Mellor, Sigurbjornsson, Christiansen, Garner; Mawejje, F Olafsson (Hughes, 74 mins), Valdimaesson (Thorarinsson, 81 mins); Jeffs (Sytnik, 62 mins), A Olafsson, Gudmundsson.

Referee: N Dunauskas (Lithuania).