Competition: Europa Conference League
Date: 20 Feburary 2025
Result: Shamrock Rovers 0 – 1 Molde FK (1-1 on aggregate, Molde win 5-4 on penalties)
Tickets: €20 (adult), €8 (kid), plus a €1 per ticket transaction fee.
Attendance: 9,533 (close to a sell out)
Game/ Experience Rating: ☆☆☆
The Game: This should have been the one. I say ‘should’ rather than could, as the first modern era proper knock out game for an Irish club in Europe was very, very winnable for Shamrock Rovers having arrived back in Tallaght with a lead. An early mistake gifted Molde what was an equaliser in the context of the tie with a defensive mix up after Shamrock Rovers had somehow come back from Norway with a 1-0 lead, and from then on Shamrock Rovers controlled the game, though with relatively few clear cut chances.
It was the 16 year old wonder kid Michael Noonan who scored away in Molde, and he had a great chance here, too, with a header from about 6 yards out that went just wide. So we went to extra time, and then penalties, all without Molde really offering a whole lot (I felt they were playing for penatlies from about the 50th minute, and especially in extra time when they were a man down).
Perhaps they knew what they were doing, as the shootout was immaculate from Molde, without Rovers getting anywhere near any of their finishes, and one weak one from Rovers being saved ending the tie. Still, the little lad’s first time seeing a live penalty shoot out, and a good night out. It’s just a real shame when we could have had a last 16 European tie in Dublin. I do feel it’ll happen sooner or later, but it’s odds against every individual year, so perhaps we’ve a few more years to wait. Still, for anyone who doubts the value of the Europa Conference League, here it is, this run was fantastic despite the loss.
The ground: Tallaght Stadium is a fairly regular haunt for me, however it’s a slightly different beast for a European game: assigned seating (I stupidly picked a seat with a slightly restricted view from a fairly free choice at the time I booked – watch out for the top left corner of the West Stand, where the near end goal is difficult to see). Nice to see it so close to sold out for the second consecutive time I’ve been there.
Extras: We chose McDonalds over the very long multi-storey car park queue afterwards. A good call. That car park is quite daft – after games queues are so long you have to pay another hour on the ticket as the allowance for getting the car has expired. They really should fix that for game nights.
Assorted asides: I couldn’t find a programme, which is probably a sign of the status of this game (it’s unusual that I wanted one). The new club shop looks good, though, in the bottom of the North Stand.
My totals for the year so far:
Games: 2. Home wins: 0 Draws: 0 Away wins: 2
Goals: 5. Home goals: 0. Away goals: 5. Goals per game: 2.5
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