DUNDALK and Cork City progressed to the Third Qualifying Round of the Champions League and Europa League respectively after fine midweek results, but St Patrick's Athletic's Europa League interest ended after a home defeat.
Dundalk secured their place in the Third Qualifying Round of the Champions League thanks to a dramatic 2–2 draw with FH Hafnarfjordur in Iceland on Wednesday night.
After a 1-1 draw in the first leg at Oriel Park left Stephen Kenny's side needing to score in the away leg, Dundalk put the setback of conceding an early goal and missing a penalty behind them, when two goals from David McMillan in the space of 10 second half minutes gave them the lead in the tie.
That meant FH had to score twice to progress at the expense of the Lilywhites, and although substitute Kristjan Floki Finnbogason levelled the tie to set up a nervous last ten minutes, Dundalk held out to progress on away goals.
They will now face BATE Borisov of Belarus in the next round, the team who knocked them out of the same competition last season with a narrow win over two legs.
The Third Qualifying Round first leg tie against will take place in Belarus on Tuesday, July 26, with the return leg the following week. The victors will advance to the play-offs, where they could meet the likes of Manchester City, Porto, Villarreal or Roma.
Even if they lose, Dundalk will transfer to the UEFA Europa League play-off round, just one tie away from the group stages.
Meanwhile, Cork City will also be representing the SSE Airtricity League in European competition next week, after their excellent 1-0 win over BK Hacken of Sweden at Turners Cross saw them through to the Europa League Third Qualifying Round on a 2-1 aggregate.
In front of a large and vociferous home support, the decisive goal arrived in the 26th minute, when Greg Bolger's free-kick was deflected into the path of Kevin O'Connor who fired a low shot into the bottom corner.
It was a goal that arrived at a timely moment as the Swedish side had begun the game well, with the the pace of their front three causing the City defence problems, and City survived a scare soon afterwards when Stephen Dooley had to clear off the line from a Paulinho header.
![Cork City players congratulate teammate Kevin O’Connor after scoring a goal [©INPHO/Cathal Noonan]](https://media.irishpost.co.uk/uploads/2016/07/Cork-City-N.jpg)
Cork City players congratulate teammate Kevin O’Connor after scoring a goal [©INPHO/Cathal Noonan]After getting to the break with their lead intact, John Caulfield's side returned for the second-half with a defensively minded strategy that allowed the visitors plenty of possession, but restricted them to long range efforts on goal.
Late in the game the Leesiders managed a rare attempt on goal themselves, when Gearoid Morrissey had a shot on the turn turned wide by Hacken keeper Peter Abrahamson, and after safely seeing out four minutes of stoppage time, the final whistle was greeted with relief and jubilation in equal measure by the home support.
It was a result that sees City progress through two rounds of a European competition for the first time since 2004, and they will now play KRC Genk of Belgium in the Third Qualifying Round.
However, St Patrick's Athletic's interest in the same competition ended with a 1-0 home defeat at the hands of Dinamo Minsk at Richmond Park.
After a fine 1-1 draw over in Belarus in the first leg, hopes were high in the home camp that they could finish the job off in the second leg, but after conceding an early goal Saints were always chasing the game, and rarely threatened their well organised opponents.
The opening period saw both sides enjoy spells of possession, but Dinamo Minsk soon began to take control and Saints goalkeeper Brendan Clarke was forced into saves from long range efforts by Noyok and Sverchinski from the resulting corner.
However, he was eventually beaten by what proved to be the crucial goal on the night, when Valeri Zhukovski’s corner was flicked on to the back post for Gleb Rassadkin to take advantage of poor marking to tap the ball home from close range.
Saints hit back and their best chances arrived in the closing stages of the first half when first of all a terrific strike from Graham Kelly flew just wide of the post, and Minsk had a let off six minutes before the break when Keith Treacy's corner was headed on to his own crossbar by Korytko and bounced out for a corner.
Liam Buckley's men kept going and just after the hour Darren Dennehy headed a Treacy free kick across goal, but his brother Billy just failed to connect.
But as the half wore on, Saints struggled to break down their more experienced opponents, and their visitors from Belarus did enough to see the game out comfortably and seal a 2-1 win on aggregate to progress.
