Conference League: Ten-man Dungannon crash out of Europe

Dungannon Swifts exited the Conference League at the hands of FC Vaduz of Liechtenstein in Solitude on a painful evening for a side who gave everything they could for 120-plus minutes.

Under the cosh from the outset, the Swifts task was made even more difficult when Tiernan Kelly was sent off for an apparent elbow just before the break.

Vaduz then scored in the second half to take the tie to extra-time, before seeing off Rodney McAree's side with two further strikes in the second period.

McAree went with a defensive set-up for this second leg as he tried to protect the lead his side picked up in Liechtenstein last week.

Strikers Andrew Mitchell, Tomas Galvin, Brandon Bermingham and Leon Boyd all began on the bench as Leo Alves and Sean McAllister – the goalscoring hero from last week – led the line.

As expected, it was the visitors who had the bulk of the possession and in the opening quarter of the match, they cut the Swifts open all too easily.

Their first chance arrived on the 12th minute when Luca Mack slid the ball through to Angelo Campos, but his low shot from inside the box was well saved by the legs of Dungannon keeper Declan Dunne.

Vaduz got in again midway through the half when Mischa Eberhard found Marcel Monsberger - but once more Dunne was out quickly to save with his legs.

Despite Dungannon struggling to keep hold of the ball a concerted period of time, they didn’t allow Vaduz any more clear-cut efforts for the remainder of the half, with Caolan Marron particularly inspired at the heart of the home defender.

The only chance the away side could muster was an Eberhard poked shot that Dunne was able to grab hold of pretty comfortably.

However, things took a turn for the worse just a minute before the end of the first half.

As energetic midfielder jumped for a header with Mack just outside the centre circle, the Vaduz midfielder went down clutching his face. That was enough for Swedish Referee Kristoffer Karlsson to immediately reach to his back pocket and produce a red card for the new signing from Loughgall – who the official deemed to have led with an elbow.

Despite knowing they would likely be under even more pressure after the restart, the Swifts actually had the first chance of the second period.

Four minutes in, captain Gael Bigirimana curled in a dangerous free-kick from the right with both Marron and Cahal McGinty unmarked six yards out. It looked like McGinty got there first, but could only direct his header over the crossbar.

The Dungannon fans, who were mostly congregated at the opposite end at the thought it had gone in for a moment, but their celebrations were cut short when they realised it had missed the target.

As Vaduz pushed to take the lead on the night and level the tie on aggregate, Dunne had to be alert to pluck a header from Monsberger out of the sky as it headed towards the top corner on 64 minutes. Then a minutes later, Danny Wallace then cleared a header off the line from Denis Simani

Ten minutes later, Vaduz hit the bar as sub Jonathan De Donno headed off the woodwork from Dominik Schwizer's cross just a minute after coming on.

However, their pressure eventually paid off 11 minutes from time as another sub Mats Hammerich eventually found the net.

He let fly from just outside the box and his low drive flew just out of the despairing dive of Dunne to level the tie on aggregate.

But just four minutes later, Adam Glenny almost sent the Solitude crowd wild as he connected with a James Knowles free-kick. However, his goalbound header was clawed out for a corner by Vaduz keeper Leon Schaffran.

Dunne had to make two more stops before the end of the 90 minutes to send the tie to extra-time, and after Andrew Mitchell had gone close for Dungannon, Vaduz thought they had taken the lead for the first time in the tie on 99 minutes.

De Donno’s curling effort looked to be drifting in, but fellow sub Javier Navarro made sure with the faintest of touches, only to see the assistant referee’s flag up for offside.

Vaduz then double their lead on the night and went in front on aggregate in the ties right on the half-time whistle in extra-time.

Mischa Eberhard strikes low from 20 yards into the bottom right hand corner, giving Dunne no chance and that proved to be that for Dungannon in Europe this season.

They did have one very late chance as Mitchell had an effort cleared off the line before Vaduz grabbed their third on the break as Dungannon pushed up, with Nicolas Hasler firing into an empty net just before the final whistle

MATCH STATS

Dungannon Swifts: Dunne, McGinty, Glenny, Wallace, Marron (T Maguire 105), Bigirimana (C) (Galvin 111), Knowles (McAleese 98), Kelly, S Scott (Boyd 105), Alves (Dillon 80), McAllister (Mitchell 73)

Subs not used: Henderson (GK), J Scott, P Maguire, King, Bermingham, Smith

FC Vaduz: Schaffran, Beeli (N Hasler H-T), Schwizer, Berisha (C), Simani, Mack (Hammerich 58), Eberhard, Seiler, Monsberger, Dantas Fernandes (DE Donno 73), Campos (Navarro 55)

Subs not used: Buchel (GK), Oehri (GK), A Hasler, Hoxha, Lang

Referee: Kristoffer Karlsson (Sweden)

Linfield and Larne progress

There was better news for the other two Sports Direct Irish Premiership sides in European action tonight however.

Linfield won 2-0 at home to Lithuanian side Zalgiris after a scoreless first leg, courtesy of first half strikes from Matthew Fitzpatrick and Kieran Offord. THey could even afford to miss a penalty as Chris Shields saw his spot-kick saved.

David Healy's side will now face Vikingur of the Faroe Islands in the Third Qualifying Round.

Meanwhile, Larne won on penalties away to Kosovan side Prishtina.

Dan Bent levelled for Nathan Rooney's side after they had gone behind and when the tie when to a shoot-out following extra-time, Rohan Ferguson stopped the home side's sixth penalty in sudden death to seal victory for the Inver Park men.

They'll now meet Santa Clara of Portugal in the next round.