Kalju (Estonia) 2 (Patrikejevs 43, Männilaan 49) St Patrick’s Athletic 2 (Redmond 90+1, Mulraney 93) (St Pat’s win 3-2 on aggregate)
Jake Mulraney and Joe Redmond goals rescued St Patrick’s Athletic in Estonia, to earn the right to face Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s Beşiktaş of Turkey next Wednesday in the Uefa Conference League third round qualifying. The first leg will be in Tallaght, the second leg in Istanbul.
After a mystifying mid-game collapse, that led to goals for Kalju’s Ivans Patrikejevs and Mattias Männilaan, Redmond’s 91st-minute strike dragged this trip to Tallinn into extra-time.
Mulraney’s lucky finish secured a 3-2 win on aggregate that keeps Stephen Kenny’s side on course to reach the Conference group stages and bank at least €4 million in prize money.
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Beşiktaş will have something to say about that.
For 40 minutes, St Pat’s were coasting. Mulraney was threatening to win this second-leg on his own; Kalju could not handle the winger, especially when he turned onto his left foot to whip crosses towards Mason Melia.
Uku Korre stretched to deny the Tottenham-bound teenager an easy header at the back post while Mulraney had two, albeit tame, shots on target in the opening 20 minutes.
Kristjan Kask picked up where he left off at Richmond Park last week, somehow avoiding a yellow card for stamping on Jamie Lennon before the Cypriot referee Menelaos Antoniou booked him for a silly foul on Mulraney. Melia also shipped a cheap-shot to the ribs.
St Pat’s looked the better side, by some distance, until an Patrikejevs goal levelled the tie two minutes before the break.
Kalju had been struggling with the high press, where the work rate of Melia, Kian Leavy and Simon Power did not allow them to settle into any rhythm.
There is no VAR in Conference League qualifiers, which ended up suiting St Pat’s despite a legitimate penalty shout when Olek Musolitin bundled over Leavy on the edge of the box.
Kalju had a stronger case after Tom Grivosti blatantly pushed Guilherme Smith. The rangy Brazilian collapsed but Antoniou and his officials missed it.
Slowly, then all at once, the Estonians took control of the game.
Kask drew a save from Joseph Anang as St Pat’s concentration levels plummeted; the usually solid Lennon sprayed two passes to nobody before Barry Baggley wasted a third straight possession.
Kalju came to life. Kask stormed down the left, cutting the ball back for Patrikejevs, who got his body across Baggley to make it 1-1 on aggregate.
Melia attempted the spectacular in first half injury-time but his effort curled wide. It was the 17-year-old’s last act on the night as he was replaced by Aidan Keena.
As Melia went off for tactical reasons at half-time, four minutes into the second half, Kenny’s side were staring down the barrel of elimination when Männilaan scored from a free header after a cross by Nikita Ivanov. Grivosti never got off the ground.
Chris Forrester, who scored a 90th winner in the first leg, was immediately sent on for Baggley.
Nothing was going for St Pat’s. Keena drew a good save from Maxim Pavlov before the Westmeath striker was also forced off injured.
Inspiration would need to come from midfield. Forrester answered the call with some sublime touches to create shooting chances for McLaughlin and Lennon.
As St Pat’s poured forward, Anang made a superb, two-handed save to deny Smith.
It all came down to a Mulraney free-kick in injury-time. Pavlov’s tendency to flap at any ball that came near his goal continued as he punched the winger’s shot towards Redmond, who finished the rebound like a centre forward.
Extra-time was welcomed by a torrential downpour. It also welcomed by St Pat’s rediscovering their mojo.
Granted, Mulraney’s decisive strike three minutes into the first half of extra-time looked like a cross.
Late on, Anang showed why he was recently selected by Ghana, with two crucial interventions to send the Inchicore club to Istanbul, where they were knocked out of last season’s qualifiers by Başakşehir.
Kalju: Pavlov; Tarassenkov, Kõrre, Tambedou, Nikolajev; Musolitin (Orlov 112), Patrikejevs (Baptista 106), Ivanov (Marin 80), Kask (Esono 96); Männilaan, Guilherme Smith (Jabir 87).
St Patrick’s Athletic: Anang; McLaughlin, Redmond, Grivosti, McClelland (Breslin 96); Baggley (Forrester 51), Lennon; Mulraney (Kazeem 106), Leavy (Kavanagh 72), Power; Melia (Keena 46 (Carty 72)).
Referee: Menelaos Antoniou (Cyprus).
