Competition: Europa League 3rd Qualifying Round
Date: 8 August 2024
Result: St Patrick’s Athletic 1 – 0 Sabah FK
Tickets: €25 adults, €9 kids
Attendance: 4,352
Game/ Experience Rating: ☆☆☆☆
The Game: St Patrick’s Athletic are having something of a horror season in the League of Ireland under former national poss Stephen Kenny, but Kenny has a reputation for doing damage in Europe and this was perhaps the best performance in Europe I’ve seen from an Irish side since the day of Dundalk doing damage.
Pat’s saw their own post hit in the first minute… and that was about it. From then on they piled on the pressure, with Sabah FK, admittedly not exactly a big name, but arguably more favoured than Pat’s, looking overmatched to the point that I stood somewhere in the second half where I couldn’t see the Pat’s goal, and it didn’t effect my enjoyment of the match one bit.
Pat’s scored a great goal in the first half, a volleyed finish from the edge of the six yard box, and then Sabah had a man sent off. From then on, they’ll be huge disappointment that they didn’t win by more, which makes a trip to Azerbaijan a tough challenge. It could easily have been a rout.
The ground: We’re regulars at Tallaght Stadium, but still haven’t managed to get ourselves into the new North Stand (tickets wouldn’t go through this time, odd as it was clearly sparsely populated). Pat’s had made it their own, with the Invincibles in the traditional away section, complete with plenty of banners and making a decent noise throughout.
The atmosphere has definitely improved now there are stands on all four sides, and I noticed even the west stand seats have been replaced.
Extras: The small number of Sabah FK fans getting progressively more irritated in the heart of the West Stand was quite entertaining. I think they expected a win.
Assorted asides: I think this was a touch overpriced to be honest. Great game, better than most I’ve attended in Ireland, but if they’d knocked the price down a bit from €26 including fees for adults they could have sold a lot more tickets.
My totals for the year so far:
Games: 7. Home wins: 2 Draws: 3 Away wins: 2
Goals: 22. Home goals: 11. Away goals: 11. Goals per game: 3.14
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