Uefa Conference League qualifying, first round, first leg: St Patrick’s Athletic v Hegelmann (Lithuania), Richmond Park, Thursday, 7.45pm
Fourteen months ago, Stephen Kenny signed a five-year contract to begin the process of guiding St Patrick’s Athletic into a trophy-laden future where progress to the group stages of European football’s basement competition would become normal practice.
Nobody said it was going to be easy.
St Pat’s caught fire under Kenny in July 2024, weaving a path through the Uefa Conference League qualifiers only to come up short of joining Shamrock Rovers in the group stages when losing to Basaksehir in Istanbul.
They were ahead of schedule. Now, following an abysmal run of results, they begin their European campaign with one goal from the last six matches.
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“It is unacceptable of course,” said Kenny before the arrival of Lithuanian club Hegelmann to Richmond Park on Thursday night. “I am hugely disappointed with that, but at the same time I understand that everyone is giving everything.”
Injuries to Romal Palmer and Seán Hoare have not helped their cause. On paper, the St Pat’s strikers Mason Melia and Aidan Keena are having a respectable season, combining for 12 goals. However, neither player has found the net in over a month.
It will be interesting to see who Kenny starts up front, Melia or Keena, as the former’s performances against Basaksehir last August helped convince Tottenham Hotspur to pay €1.9 million – rising to a potential €4.2 million – for the teenager, who moves to London in January.
On current form, St Pat’s will struggle to progress to face the winners of Nomme Kalju (Estonia) and Partizani (Albania), as Hegelmann are not the usual Lithuanian opposition.
“It’s a German [freight and logistics] company that took over the club,” Kenny explained. “Traditionally, Lithuanian teams would have mainly Lithuanian players but they obviously have good investment with two African forwards. The main one is from Cameroon (Abdel Kader Njoya).
“They have a Brazilian number 10, a Japanese left back, a Serbian midfielder (Lazar Kojic) who is very good, and a Ukrainian winger so they are a multinational, attacking team.”
