Jake Mulraney: The league is screaming out for help

St Patrick's Athletic winger Jake Mulraney said the League of Ireland is "screaming out for help" after his team blunted heavily fancied Turkish side Istanbul Basaksehir on Thursday night.

Mulraney was excellent for the Saints as they played out a nil-all draw in the first leg of their UEFA Conference League play-off clash at Tallaght Staidium.

Basaksehir beat Manchester United in the group stages of the Champions League in 2020. Their budget and resources dwarf the Inchicore outfit but Stephen Kenny will take his men to Istanbul next Wednesday very much in this tie after an impressive showing in Dublin.

Pat's are playing in Tallaght because Richmond Park does not meet the required UEFA standards for this stage of the competition.

And Mulraney took the opportunity to highlight the potential for Irish clubs to go to the next level, telling RTÉ Sport's Tony O'Donoghue: "In these kind of games in these facilities, big pitch, nice surface... I know the funding is hard in the league and across the country but if 70% of stadiums were like this the league goes through the roof.

"The league is screaming out for help to get facilities like this. If we played here every week I think it would be a different story (in the league) for us this season."

"He's got so much time to develop. His ceiling is very high."

On the pitch, the Saints more than matched their visitors.

Mulraney, Zack Elbouzedi and Kian Leavy all caused problems, but it was the display of 16-year-old forward Mason Meilia that really caught the eye.

"I was noweher near that at 16," Mulraney said of his team-mate. "Even physically, he's a monster. I walked out past him, I'm looking up at him, he's huge.

"Physically he's already there, technically he's good, pace wise he's good.