Shamrock Rovers suffer narrow loss to Celje in Slovenia

Shamrock Rovers dug deep to stay in the tie as they fell to a 1-0 first-leg defeat to Celje in Slovenia on Thursday night.

A place in the play-off round of the UEFA Europa League and a showdown against either Malmö FF of Sweden or PAOK FC of Greece awaits the winner, with the Hoops needing a big night at the office in Tallaght Stadium next week to turn this around.

Stephen Bradley and his players also know that they have a play-off spot in the Conference League - and a shot at group stage football - secured if they fail to come back on home soil in the second leg.

They had a false start as an early chance by Aaron Greene was followed by a period of sustained pressure that accumulated in Luka Menalo scoring for the home side in the 34th minute.

That was a just reward for the Slovenian champions, who are hoping to qualify for the group stages of a European competition for the first time in their 104-year history.

Shamrock Rovers were forced to plug gaps early on, and Leon Pöhls was called into action on a number of different occasions during the first half.

The first instance involved a reactionary save after Armandas Kučys squared to Aljoša Matko.

Celje then won a corner and a well-worked routine involved a quick pass to an unmarked Jošt Pišek. The Slovenian Under-21 international followed that up by picking out Mario Kvesić, and his close range attempt was blocked down by Pöhls.

Rovers held their own until Menalo cut through and a left legged shot sailed in at the opposite corner.

The Hoops closed out the first half by winning a corner and Dylan Watts' set-piece was knocked wide by Sean Hoare.

The game restarted and Rovers clicked in the final third, a shift in tempo marked by the Celje defence getting in the way of a Daniel