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\nToni Domgjoni of Ballkani, left, celebrates the opener with teammate Edvin Kuc<\/p>\n
Second-half goals by Douglas James-Taylor and Ross Tierney saw Bohemians come from behind to win the first leg of their UEFA Conference League second qualifying round tie against Ballkani in the final European tie at Dalymount Park before its redevelopment at the end of the season.<\/p>\n
Trailing to a first-half penalty, Bohemians looked like they had run out of ideas about how to break down the stubborn Kosovan side who got to the group stages of the Conference League in the 2023-24 season as the tie entered the last quarter of an hour.<\/p>\n
But James-Taylor equalised in the 76th minute as his low shot hit the net via a post and, in the final minute of normal time, Tierney unleashed a volley from the edge of the area – a goal of real quality – to give Alan Reynolds’ side a one-goal lead into the second leg.<\/p>\n
Ballkani who had to work hard to get past Cymru Premier outfit Connah’s Quay Nomads last time out, made the mistake of trying to see out the tie as they fell back into a defensive formation only to be undone by the home side<\/p>\n
It was a cagey enough opening to the game, and it was fully 16 minutes before Bohs got a sight of goal as Colm Whelan, on the edge of the six-yard box and under pressure from two defenders, headed over.<\/p>\n
Bohs came close to going behind moments later as Domgjoni’s corner reached the back post and the home side were relieved when Halili\u2019s diving header across goal just missed the far post.<\/p>\n
A goal had been coming and, in the 28th minute, the home side conceded a penalty as Serebe got down the Bohs left and cut into penalty area at the byline, only to be brought down by Pat Hickey; the Austrian referee immediately pointed to the spot.<\/p>\n
Domgjoni put the resultant penalty down the middle to give the visitors the lead.<\/p>\n
\nToni Domgjoni of Ballkani, left, celebrates the opener with teammate Edvin Kuc<\/p>\n
There was a real lack of urgency from Reynolds’ side in the opening period, and the slow passages of play began to frustrate the home support, and it was only towards the end of the half that they began to threaten.<\/p>\n
Markuss\u2019s Strods\u2019 43rd-minute cross caught out the Ballkani keeper Golubovic, who did well to get a hand to a ball that was dropping under his crossbar.<\/p>\n
It fell to Tierney lurking at the back post, but he couldn\u2019t pick out a team-mate with the cross that followed.<\/p>\n
The Gypsies tried to pick up the pace after the restart but found it difficult to break down a stubborn Ballkani, who also pressed up on the Bohs backline, as the home side found themselves hemmed deep into their own half.<\/p>\n
Indeed, Bohs were lucky they didn\u2019t go two down in the 65th minute as defender Sam Todd, facing his own goal, saw his poor touch land at the feet of Serebe with the former Derry and UCD player grateful to his keeper Paul Walters who denied Serebe\u2019s lob with a one-handed save.<\/p>\n
Sub Harry Vaughan, on loan from Hull City, did at least add some urgency down the Bohs left but they created little as Ballkani created the better chances as their captain Edvin Kuc saw his side foot shot from the edge of the area whistle narrowly wide.<\/p>\n
If Bohs do get to the next stage, they would not be able to play their home game in Phibsborough as it doesn’t meet UEFA’s requirements for the third qualifying round.<\/p>\n
And the sense of occasion finally began to dawn on the Dalymount Park outfit in the final quarter. The Dubliners finally got a shot on target as Dawson Devoy\u2019s free kick in the 73rd minute was acrobatically saved by Golubovic.<\/p>\n
And moments later another free kick led to the Bohs equaliser as quick thinking by Darragh Power saw his pass pick out James-Taylor in the area and his first-time shot across goal found the net via the butt of the post.<\/p>\n
Relief all round for the Gypsies and their increasingly flustered support.<\/p>\n
Jordan Flores missed a brilliant opportunity to put Bohs ahead as he got clear at the back post from a right-wing corner, but instead of heading it straight towards goal, his effort across the area was cleared.<\/p>\n
But the winning goal finally came in the 89th minute as James-Taylor turned provider to Tierney on the edge of the area and his right-footed volley flew in to give the home side a narrow advantage to take to the second leg next week in Pristina.<\/p>\n
The winners will go on to face either Turkish powerhouses Besiktas or Midtjylland of Denmark in the third qualifying round.<\/p>\n
Bohemians: Paul Girard Walters; Darragh Power, Patrick Hickey (Cian Byrne), Sam Todd, Sadou Diallo (Dayle Rooney 77) Adam McDonnell (Douglas James Taylor 60) ; Dawson Devoy \u00a9, Jordan Flores; Markuss Strods (Harry Vaughan 60) , Ross Tierney (Niall Moraghan 92); Colm Whelan<\/p>\n
FC Balkani: Adrian Golubovic; Diar Vokrri, Ivica Barterelo, Gentrit Halili, Abu Dosso; Edvin Kuc (c) (Albert Diene 84) Anel Sabanadzovic (Bajram Jashanica 84), Marsel Ismajlgeci (Ardit Deliu 60); Giovanni (Almedin Klinaku 87), Valentin Serebe, Toni Domgjon (Elvis Letaj 84)<\/p>\n
Referee: Jakob Semier (Austria)<\/p>\n
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Listen to the RT\u00c9 Soccer podcast on Apple Podcasts<\/a>, Spotify<\/a> or wherever you get your podcasts<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Second-half goals by Douglas James-Taylor and Ross Tierney saw Bohemians come from behind to win the first leg…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":563141,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[61,60,112],"class_list":["post-563140","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/563140","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=563140"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/563140\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/563141"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=563140"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=563140"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=563140"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}