Back from the dead only to be pipped at the post

Recently St Patricks Athletic, from my hometown of Inchicore, have had some success in European competition with victories over clubs such as NK Rijeka, Elfsborg and Sovetov Samara from Russias Premier League.  All great victories in their own right but there is one European game played at Richmond Park that surely deserves credit as not just a moral victory for St Patricks but really for all of Ireland and I had the privilege to witness the game myself in Inchicores very own 'Stadium of Light'.

Richmond Park just before kick off against Elfsborg in 2008

After a 5 year absence from European action the SuperSaints made it to the preliminary round of the UEFA Cup and were drawn against Slovakian powerhouse outfit Slovan Bratislava.  I ventured into 'The Shed End' that night to get a proper feel of the ground, it's the end where just about anything goes, but things weren't going so well when The Saints fell behind by three goals early on.  

As halftime approached I heard someone say it would be great if we even got one goal, just as I heard it we grabbed a goal, there was still hope. 

The second half was a classic, The Saints were making a game of it and the Slovaks were rattled.  Suddenly the second goal came and there was pandemonium in the ground.  The chanting in the shed was unreal then the Saints drew level, a well worked set piece goal I seem to remember. The leveller almost brought the house down, unbelievable.  Dead and buried at three nil down and now it was three each, the Slovaks weren't finished however.  With the crowd still celebrating the fact that we had drawn level Bratislava sneaked a goal in to make it four three.  You could have heard a pin drop, the agony and the ecstasy (old cliche but very true), we experienced it all that night. 

The Saints went on to lose one nil away from home and crash out of the competition but it was a great experience just to have witnessed such a comeback, almost as good as Lazarus coming back from the grave in fairness but just not quite good enough.