- Andrew Dempsey
- Thu, Aug 17 2023
Andrew Dempsey reports from Tallaght Stadium
Derry City bowed out of the Europa Conference League after an agonising penalty shootout defeat against Tobol Kostanay at Tallaght Stadium.
In sudden death, Brian Maher’s spot-kick was saved by Ivan Konovalov before Pavel Kireenko rolled home his effort to send the Kazakhstani outfit through to the play-off round of the competition.
But for so long it looked as if the Candystripes were on course to seal a date with Viktoria Plzen after the Czech Republic outfit saw off Maltese side Gzira United in their respective qualifier 6-0 on aggregate.
Will Patching levelled the tie in the first half – and it stayed that way all the way to the penalty shootout before Tobol broke Derry City hearts to qualify.
Trailing 1-0 from last week’s first-leg in Kazakhstan, Derry City made just one change from their defeat with Cian Kavanagh dropping out in place of Jamie McGonigle.
And consistency proved key for the Candystripes as they started the game the better of the two in front of their raucous support – with their first chance arriving in the second minute of the game.
After Patching’s corner-kick broke down, the ball found winger Paul McMullan as he hooked the ball into the danger area for Mark Connolly to head over the bar. That set the tone for the half as Adam O’Reilly skewed a shot wide of goal just moments later.
And the moment that Derry City threatened finally arrived in the 15th minute from the penalty spot.
Ben Doherty’s through ball down the left flank found Michael Duffy, and as he raced in on goal he was clipped by Bagdat Kairov before tumbling to the floor. Slovakian referee Peter Kralovic had no hesitation in pointing to the spot as Patching stroked his effort home.
The Candystripes almost doubled their lead soon after but Duffy was unable to steer his effort on target after he was found by McGonigle’s lay-off as he skewed his effort just wide of Ivan Konovalov’s goal.
But while Derry were on top, they were given a stark warning from their visitors that they would not roll over for them.
Igor Ivanovic jinked past Doherty’s attempt to dispossess him in the penalty area before dinking the ball over City shot-stopper Brian Maher. However, Cameron McJannet was on hand to clear the ball over the bar with a desperate last-ditch clearance.
Yet, Derry ended the half as the side in the ascendancy but McGonigle failed to make the most of a kind opening after being played in by McMullan as he got the ball mixed up in his feet as the Kazakhs cleared away the danger.
Unchanged from the opening half, the Candystripes picked up from they left off before the interval as Duffy shot wide of goal after being played by McMullan.
The former Dundee winger was on song at this point as Tobol failed to make any inroad into the Derry City defensive rear-guard, with Ivanovic’s curled effort from inside the penalty area being the closest they came to scoring.
McGonigle then went close for the Foylesiders shortly after but his low effort on goal was blocked before it could trouble the Kazakhs netminder Konovalov.
McMullan then went close in quick succession with two efforts on goal saved by the busy Tobol keeper, with the first being the better of the two. The winger pounced on a Cian Kavanagh knockdown before firing low on target with his effort saved.
His second effort was easily collected moments later.
But Derry did have to withstand some pressure from the Kazakhs as the end of normal time approached, with Serge Deble going close twice – McJannet blocked one before Maher got down smartly to deny the forward.
However, the Candystripes had the best chance of all when the two Kavanagh’s combined to create their best chance of the game from open play.
Brandon found some space before finding his namesake Cian – but the former Waterford striker skewed his effort wide of goal after the ball clipped off his shin to go wide and force extra-time.
But extra-time had little action to report on, with Deble coming closest in a tightly-fought affair as defences reigned supreme.
And it was in a penalty shootout when Tobol eventually came out on top with Maher’s penalty miss proving itself to be costly for the Candystripes as Kireenko turned his resulting penalty into the back of the net.
Derry City: Brian Maher; Ronan Boyce, Mark Connolly, Ben Doherty, Cameron McJannet; Sadou Diallo (Jordan McEneff 87), Adam O'Reilly (Cameron Dummigan 75), Will Patching (Patrick McEleney 64); Michael Duffy (Danny Mullen 112), Jamie McGonigle (Cian Kavanagh 64), Paul McMullen (Brandon Kavanagh 87).
Subs not used: Tadhg Ryan, Jack Lemoignan, Shane McEleney, Ciaran Coll.
Booked: Adam O'Reilly (69), Michael Duffy (90), Danny Mullen (115).
FK Tobol Kostanay: Ivan Konovalov; Roman Asrankulov, Bagdat Kairov (Albert Gabaraev 90), Bojan Mlađović, Ivan Rogač; Jovan Ilić, Serikzhan Muzhikov (Pavel Kireenko 84), Samat Zharynbetov (Yevhen Shakhov 75); Serge Déblé (Pavel Zabelin 113), Igor Ivanović (Ramazan Orazov 75), Miljan Vukadinović.
Subs not used: Sultan Busurmanov, Yuriy Melikhov, Timur Zhakupov, Danyar Semchenkov, Beibit Galym.
Booked: Bagdat Kairov (72), Roman Asrankulov (86), Ivan Rogač (104).
Referee: Peter Kralovic (Slovakia).
Attendance: 3128.
extratime.com Player of the Match: Mark Connolly (Derry City).
