Champions League first round qualifier, second leg
Shamrock Rovers 2
Vikingur Reykjavik 1
THEY WERE PREPARED for despair.
What else should you really expect when you give away a penalty kick in the 96th minute? Especially when only five had been announced?
Once the VAR check on Roberto Lopes’ challenge confirmed the spot kick all that was left was for Nikolaj Hansen to convert and send this tie to extra-time.
It would have surely broken Shamrock Rovers.
They had been reduced to 10 men for the final quarter of an hour after Jack Byrne’s second yellow card.
Vikingur Reykjavik sensed blood after substitute Hansen had pulled one back on the hour.
Dylan Watts and Johnny Kenny had combined to devastating effect in the first half but the thrill and the emotion was released in those final seconds with the penalty.
Goalkeeper Leon Pohls guessed the wrong way but Hansen struck his effort off the left post and wide.
Tallaght Stadium erupted in a dizzying, disbelieving sense of elation.
Now they can plan for another European adventure.
It is one that has started with a thrilling release of joy.
They may now be guaranteed a minimum of €1.7 million from at least three more European ties but that is not the sole reason for their happiness.
It is most certainly important but on a night like this, a moment like that can act as a catalyst for something really special.
Before the goals and the penalty miss came the block.
It felt just as important for the mood.
Had Lopes not been alert to the danger and in position six yards out from goal it may well have felt like a completely different game after just two minutes.
But the Rovers skipper anticipated the knock down from Ari Sigurpalsson on the left and closed the space enough to deny an unmarked Heigi Gudjohnsson when his close-range shot looked destined for the bottom corner.
The start was scrappy and even Kenny’s opener on eight minutes was the result of one hopeful long ball forward by Sean Hoare followed by two defensive headers that gifted the ball to Watts.
It was his calmness and presence of mind to control the ball on his chest, rather than simply sky a pass into the channel as it dropped from the air, that brought an element of control.
His next touch set him and what followed was an incisive low pass that had Vikingur’s defence scrambling to chase the 21-year-old striker.
Kenny, who had missed a golden opportunity in the final stages of the away leg to give Rovers a 1-0 lead, showed no hesitation as Peter Ekroth raced towards him a few yards to the left of the six-yard box.
He held his nerve, chopped inside onto his left and fired low and hard through the legs of Ingvar Jonsson.
A VAR check confirmed he was onside.
There was no doubt about the second on 20 minutes.
Again it started deep in Rovers’ half, only this time it was Watts showing a burst of speed and sharp feet with the ball under control.
He escaped a trio of Vikingur bodies around him and after striding forward for a further 10 yards laid the ball to Kenny on the left just over the halfway line.
This time Kenny had different decisions to make as he headed into the box. Byrne was to his right and an easy square ball to pass on the responsibility.
But once he crossed into the area it seemed like his mind was made up. Ekroth was in front of him and Kenny opened his body to hint at an effort to the far post.
It was ruthless deception. What followed was a drilled finish, low to the keeper’s right that caught him completely off guard.
Not that Rovers needed a reminder of the delicate nature of their lead, but Ari Sigurpalsson’s miss a couple of yards out four minutes after the restart provided one.
On the hour the visitors were well and truly back in it when one of their two half-time substitutes headed home from inside the six-yard box.
Hansen, now wearing the captain’s armband, nodded home from Sigurpalsson’s perfectly-flighted inswinging cross from the left.
When Byrne was then shown his second yellow card (the first WAS for throwing the ball away) for a late tackle on Valdimar Ingimundarson, Rovers faced the final quarter of an hour with 10 men.
Even before there was time for Lee Grace to replace Kenny on 80 minutes, Lopes produced another stunning block with his face from a goal-bound shot through a sea of bodies in the box.
The final 10 minutes were tension-filled and the most dramatic moment of all came with the very last kick of the game.
Lopes gave away a foul on Ingimundarson with a lunge and then Hansen stepped up.
Bradley and Rovers were on their knees.
But when he missed they had reason to leap with renewed vigour into the rest of this season.
Next up is Bohemians in the FAI Cup.
After that it’s the visit of Sparta Prague next week.
The season starts now for Rovers.
Shamrock Rovers: Pohls; Honohan, Cleary, Lopes (captain), Hoare, Clarke (Farrugia ; Byrne, Watts, O’Neill; Greene (Burns 65), Kenny (Grace 80).
Sent off: Byrne 74
Vikingur Reykjavkik: Jonsson; Gunnarsson, Ekroth, Vatnhamar, Fjoluson; Agnarsson (Thrandarson 82), Punyed (captain) (Viktor 75), Sigurpalsson (Thoroarson 75), Gudjonsson (Hansen HT); Djuric (Vilhjalmsson HT), Ingimundarson.
Referee: Gillett (Eng).
Attendance: 7,632
