Only half-time, insists Stephen Kenny after impressive Saints win in Conference League

Stephen Kenny insists there is no celebrating at St Patrick's Athletic even if they carry a two-goal lead in the UEFA Conference League second qualifying round second leg next week.

The Saints, who sit seventh in the Premier Division, belied their domestic form to race into an early lead through a Jake Mulraney brace and added a third with a second-half header from Joe Redmond.

Danilo del Toro’s deflected strike keeps the Liechtenstein outfit in the tie.

"The problem now is it’s only half-time," Kenny (below) told RTÉ Sport after the 3-1 victory at Richmond Park.

"Vaduz showed their quality. They would have expected to go through.

"They’ve had some good results in recent seasons.

"For us to go and start the way we did [was great], our front four were electric in the first 20 minutes, half an hour and they struggled to deal with that."

Mulraney’s double stole the headlines but Kenny, who took over at the club last May following three years as Republic of Ireland boss, reserved special praise for Romal Palmer, the English player signed on loan from Turkish club Göztepe at the start of the season.

"I’ve not seen that outside of Brazil I said to him after the game, some of the stuff he was doing, his footwork and close control was just phenomenal," said the 52-year-old Dubliner.

"It was really exciting. He’s had a difficult time at the club because he was injured arriving here for a long period.

"Tonight was his best game by a distance. He done terrific and brought it to the big stage."

The second leg takes place on Thursday at the Rheinpark Stadion.

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