Europa League round-up:Shamrock Rovers will face Juventus in the third and final qualifying round of the Europa League after securing a narrow 1-0 victory over Bnei Yehuda in Tel Aviv this evening. The 2-1 aggregate win, courtesy of Thomas Stewart's strike, sets up a mouth-watering tie against the Italian giants for Michael O'Neill's side.
Rovers will play host to the ‘Old Lady’ of Italian football next Thursday at Tallaght Stadium with the return leg in Turin on August 5th.
After playing out a 1-1 draw in Tallaght last week, Rovers went into tonight’s match at at Bnei’s Bloomfield Stadium knowing they had to score to progress. With the tie delicately poised, the Dubliners shaded the opening exchanges and Gary Twigg went close before the break.
The home side upped the tempo in the second half and O’Neill’s side had Alan Mannus to thank for keeping them in the game, the goalkeeper denying Zhairi at close range and a piledriver from Sinisa Hrvatska.
And Bnei were caught napping in the 70th minute as a long Stephen Rice throw was allowed drop in the box where Stewart smashed home from close range. The Hoops and their fans were delirious, but they stayed focussed for the last 20 minutes to close out the win.
After last week's 6-0 hammering in Bulgaria, Dundalk were never likely to trouble Levski Sofia in their second leg at Oriel Park and Levski duly recorded a comfortable 2-0 win.
Garra Dembele, who put the Lilywhites to the sword in Sofia, took just four minutes to open the visitor’s account and he made it 8-0 on aggregate when he tapped home from close range in the 33rd minute.
Sporting Fingal’s first European campaign ended in disappointment as they bowed out at the hands of Maritimo. The Portuguese club went ahead from the penalty spot on 20 minutes and doubled their advantage midway through the second half.
A late flurry from Sporting brought a brace of goals from substitute Eamon Zayed either side of a third for Maritimo who, in truth, never looked in danger of losing the tie.
Selected Europa League results
Bnei Yehuda 0-1 Shamrock Rovers (Agg: 1-2)
FK Qarabag 1-1 Portadown (Agg: 3-2)
Dundalk 0-2 Levski Sofia (Agg: 0-8)
Sporting Fingal 2-3 Maritimo (Agg: 4-6)
Bangor City 2-1 FC Honka (Agg: 3-2)
HNK Cibalia 0-0 Cliftonville (Agg: 0-1)
Breidablik 0-1 Motherwell (Agg: 0-2)