St Patrick's Athletic 2 IF Elfsborg 1(Agg: 4-3): St Patrick's Athletic came within five minutes of bowing out of the Uefa Cup tonight but a dramatic late flourish booked their place in the first round proper.
The sides drew 2-2 two weeks ago in Sweden with St Pat's coming back from two goals down to claim the vital away goals and the upper hand in the second qualifying round tie.
However, it was the visitors who took the lead at Richmond Park midway through the second half through Stefan Ishizaki and they were on the brink of progressing until Jason Gavin scored four minutes from time to bring the scores level on the night.
The goal turned the tie on its head with the Dubliners now in pole position courtesy of their superior away goals and qualification was assured when Mark Quigley scored in the final minute to secure a 4-3 win and a place in the next round where the likes of AC Milan, Spurs and Sevilla are among the potential opponents.
St Patrick's Athletic: Ryan; Lynch, Gavin, Paisley, Byrne (O'Brien, 82 mins); Guy, Dempsey, Fahey, Ryan (Kirby 74 mins); O'Neill (Fitzpatrick, 70 mins), Quigley.
IF Elfsborg: Wiland; Karlsson, Lucic, Augustsson, Mathias Floren; Ishizaki (Kurbegovic, 82 mins), Mobaeck, Svensson, Bajrami (Keene, 65 mins); Avdic (Berglund, 59 mins), Nilsson.
