Advertisement League of Ireland Horse Racing TV Listings GAA Fixtures The Video Review Sport meets news, current affairs, society & pop culture Rugby Weekly Extra Dive into all the news and analysis 3 times a week The Football Family Weekly insights from the week’s big talking points Advertisement More Stories Aidan Keena scores from the spot.Ryan Byrne/INPHO Patience of the Saints pays off as Aidan Keena strikes late European winner St Patrick’s Athletic beat Hegelmann 1-0 to take slim lead into second leg of Uefa Conference League first-round qualifier. 9.50pm, 10 Jul 2025 Share options David Sneyd reports from Richmond Park Uefa Conference League first-round qualifier, first-leg St Patrick’s Athletic 1 Hegelmann 0 EVERYONE COULD DO with the patience of a Saint but even this was beginning to stretch things for St Patrick’s Athletic. As it approached almost seven hours without a goal it looked as though FC Hegelmann would hold the advantage in the return leg of this Uefa Conference League first-round qualifier. On this evidence that will be a physical, robust examination of the League of Ireland’s side credentials in Lithuania, and they showed here they were more than capable of standing up to the challenge. Mason Melia typified that never-say die spirit. He had two great opportunities to find the net either side of half time but failed to hit the target. The Hegelemann defence made sure to put it up to the 17-year-old and he never wilted, so much so that it was his ingenuity to wriggle free with 10 minutes to go that eventually led to the award of the penalty for a foul on Barry Baggley. Stephen Kenny’s triple substitution heading into the final quarter of an hour quickly paid off as Aidan Keena was one of those to come off the bench and it was he who smashed the spot kick low and hard to the goalkeeper’s right. A reduced capacity of 2,500 meant Richmond Park was a sell-out once again and it was a celebration of joy and relief. There were nine minutes of this leg still to go but Pat’s had no problems seeing it out. Not bad for a side who hadn’t won in the Premier Division since 30 May when Keena also converted from the spot. Advertisement Mason Melia and Domantas Antanavicius of Hegelmann.Ryan Byrne / INPHO Ryan Byrne / INPHO / INPHO It has been a frustrating period since, and that sense of disappointment that they couldn’t break the deadlock here was clear due to the chances they created, not to mention a little bit of anger that they weren’t awarded at least one penalty before eventually finding a way through. Referee Simon Bourdeaud’hui waved three strong appeals away and all involved Hegelmann centre back Vilius Armalas. After just six minutes he lost the run from out to in of left winger Simon Power and looked to have clipped his heels in the box. Power went down but Bourdeaud’hui wasn’t interested. Late in the half Armalas then threw his arm in the direction of a ball in the box and the only doubt was how high up on the shoulder it struck. And before the break the defender needless cut across Melia in the box and swiped him off his feet as an overhit through ball got away from the young striker. Given how the half had progressed, with the visitors’ physical approach bringing an added edge, it was a dangerous decision by Armalas. He was in a battle with Melia throughout the pitch and the former Benfica centre back seemed overly preoccupied with attempting to make sure the teenager was aware he was in a proper contest. So much so that when a misplaced Brandon Kavanagh pass on the counter attack forced Melia to halt his run, Armalas got his positioning totally wrong and allowed the Tottenham Hotspur-bound forward a free sight of goal from inside the centre of the box. Melia blazed his shot over the bar, however, and despite dominating possession and looking dangerous down the left flank through Simon Power and Jason McClelland, that attempt on seven minutes was the best of the half. The challenge after the re-start was to sustain the kind of control that only saw the visitors force one counter attack that required a recovering tackle from Jamie Lennon to prevent a clear shot on goal. There was almost an immediate reward for positivity in possession from Baggley when his jinking run with the ball at his feet on 47 minutes saw him burst into the box only to fire a shot straight at the goalkeeper. Another surging run by Jake Mulraney down the right took him by two defenders with the second, Nikola Doric, resorting to taking him down and getting the first yellow card of the match. Approaching the hour mark spaces in the final third were opening up for both sides and Hegelmann began to look more of a threat with their own build up play rather than on the break. But it was Pat’s who created the best opening of the half that really should have ended a drought in front of goal that was now approaching just over seven hours. A superbly disguised pass by Kavanagh created space for Baggley and when his effort was blocked it rolled invitingly for Melia who, similar to that chance in the first half, snatched at it and missed the target from about 12 yards on his left foot. A few moments later on 73 minutes Kenny turned to his bench and made a triple substitution to introduce Chris Forrester for Forrester in the middle, Zach Elbouzedi in place of Power on the right wing, and Aidan Keena for Kavanagh. With 10 minutes to go finally the chance came from the spot to make the breakthrough. Melia did excellently to wiggle free in the area, a foul could have been given on him before eventually Baggley had his heels clipped as he went to strike a rebound. Keena eventually stepped up to bury the penalty low and hard to the keeper’s right and, finally, Pat’s had a goal and the lead to take over to Lithuania next week. St Patrick’s Athletic: Joey Anang; Ryan McLaughlin, Joe Redmond (captain), Tom Grivosti, Jason McClelland; Jake Mulraney (Kian Leavy 83), Barry Baggley, Jamie Lennon (Chris Forrester 73), Brandon Kavanagh (Aidan Keena 73), Simon Power (Zach Elbouzedi 73); Mason Melia. FK Hegelmann: Vincentas Sarkauskas; Klaudijus Upstas, Vilius Armalas, Nikola Doric, Carlos Duke; Domantas Antanavicius (Abdoul Samad Harouna 83), Lazar Kojic, Artem Shchedryi (Esmilis Kausinis 73); Donatas Kazlauskas (Patrick Popescu 66), Kader Njoya Abdel (Rasheed Yusuf 83), Leo Ribeiro (Wesley Gabriel 73). Referee: Simon Bourdeaud’hui (Belgium) David Sneyd View 4 comments Send Tip or Correction Embed this post To embed this post, copy the code below on your site Email “Patience of the Saints pays off as Aidan Keena strikes late European winner”. Recipient's Email Feedback on “Patience of the Saints pays off as Aidan Keena strikes late European winner”. Your Feedback Your Email (optional) Report a Comment Please select the reason for reporting this comment. Please give full details of the problem with the comment... This is YOUR comments community. Stay civil, stay constructive, stay on topic. Please familiarise yourself with our comments policy before taking part. Leave a Comment Submit a report Please help us understand how this comment violates our community guidelines. Damaging the good reputation of someone, slander, or libel. Racism or Hate speech An attack on an individual or group based on religion, race, gender, or beliefs. 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