EUROPA LEAGUE SECOND QUALIFYING ROUND Bohemians 1 Olimpija Ljubljana 1: (Olimpija win 3-1 on aggregate) A CRUEL own goal saw Bohemians bow out of Europe despite a rousing display at Dalymount last night.
Pat Fenlon’s side dominated Olimpija for long spells but it wasn’t enough as they chased a 2-0 deficit from the first leg.
Christy Fagan’s first-half goal had raised hope as well as the rafters and rattled the Slovenians. But a mix-up with goalkeeper Barry Murphy resulted in midfielder Ger O’Brien putting the ball into his net on 80 minutes.
Both sides made one change from the first leg, with Bohemians bringing Mark Rossiter in at left back after Ollie Cahill had struggled with the pace and trickery of Matic Fink.
Olimpija brought defender Erik Salkic back following suspension.
Bohemians got right at Olimpija with O’Brien and Fagan, twice, getting crosses into the box inside the opening two minutes.
Italian referee Paolo Mazzoleni’s early decisions were a frustration, none more so than on 14 minutes when two-goal first-leg hero Dare Vrsic pounced on an error by Liam Burns.
Though his shot was just wide, Mazzoleni inexplicably gave a corner from which Fink flicked into the near side netting.
Undaunted, Bohemians continued to enjoy much of the possession, with Olimpija restricted to the counterattack.
On the half hour, Barry Murphy had to get down smartly to push a drive by Anej Lovrecic out.
Fenlon had stressed in the build up the importance of scoring first, and his players obliged as pressure told from their fourth corner on 34 minutes.
Aidan Price got a touch to Killian Brennan’s cross, midfielder Davor Skerjanc, who’d given away the corner initially, directed his header towards his goal.
Elvis Dzafic touched it onto the bar and out. But Fagan was there to nod the loose ball into the net.
Dzafic was a bag or nerves now and he slipped when trying to clear a back pass to almost let Fagan in three minutes before the break.
Olimpija steadied themselves at the break, made a change, and had a little more composure about them on the resumption with Vrsic volleying over from a Davor Skerjanc pull-back six minutes in.
Though Bohemians continued to take the game to Olimpija, the cruel twist arrived on 80 minutes.
A nothing ball from Vrsic was played back by O’Brien, who’d been exemplary. But Murphy rushed out and the ball agonisingly trickled past into the net.
BOHEMIANS: Murphy; Heary, Burns (Cahill, 61 mins), Price, Rossiter (Downes, 81 mins); O'Brien; Buckley, Bayly (Forrester, 71 mins), Cronin, Brennan; Fagan.
OLIMPIJA LJUBLJANA: Dzafic; Jovic, Sretenovic (Kasnik, 86 mins), Andelkovic, Stalic; Lovrecic, Radujko; Fink (Omladic, h/t), Vrsic, Skerjanc; Valencic (Cadikovski, 74 mins).
Referee: Paolo Silvio Mazzoleni(Italy).
