Mahon aims to keep it alive for home leg

SOCCER:SUCH IS the progress made by Karpaty Lviv in the 18 years since Shelbourne beat them over two legs the Ukrainians are virtually unbackable ahead of tonight's Europa League third qualifying round first leg tie against St Patrick's Athletic at the Ukraynia stadium.

Their run in this competition last year, when they made the group stages, goes some way towards explaining the extent to which they are fancied but Pete Mahon will prefer to focus the attention of his players on the miserable start made by the hosts to their new league campaign, with just one point from three games to date.

The Dubliners will hope to capitalise on any jitters prompted by their opponents’ poor form and do enough here to ensure another good performance back in the home leg will see them through.

“The ambition is to keep the tie alive, 3-1 or 2-0, no worse than that or we’ll be gone,” says Mahon, “and that would give us something to play for next week.

“That’s not being negative, it’s being realistic, this side lost 2-1 to Shakhter Donetsk at the weekend, it’s a team that can afford to bring on Eduardo, the former Arsenal striker, as a sub.

“It’s very warm here too, which is a concern for tomorrow night but the spirit in the camp is excellent, everyone is relaxed, and the players are quietly confident they can put on another strong performance.”

The visitors have Stephen Bradley and Daryl Kavanagh suspended but everyone else is fit. Conor Kenna will start on the bench as Mahon sticks with the central defensive partnership that has done well in recent weeks.

“The manager asked me to prove my fitness and make a case in Sligo on Saturday and I think I did that,” said Kenna, “but the lads kept two clean sheets in the home legs and really, I didn’t expect to play.”