Linfield & Derry City suffer agonising European defeats

Irish Premiership side Linfield and League of Ireland Premier Division club Derry City have both crashed out of the Europa Conference League at the first qualifying round stage.

Derry defeated part-time Gibraltarian outfit Magpies 2-1 after extra-time in their second leg at the Brandywell but went down 3-2 on aggregate.

Mark Connolly's header put the Candystripes in front but the home side had Adam O'Reilly red-carded for a second bookable offence on the stroke of half-time.

Pat Hoban's strike made it 2-0 on the evening and 2-2 on aggregate but Evan De Haro's goal in the second period of extra-time saw Magpies advance to a two-legged meeting with FC Copenhagen.

Linfield suffered late heartache as an 88th-minute goal by Hilmar Haldrorsson proved enough to give Stjarnan a 4-3 aggregate win over the Irish Premiership side at Windsor Park.

Gudmundur Kristjansson's seventh-minute own goal put the Blues ahead, before Emil Atlason nodded home the leveller on 57.

Substitute Matthew Orr restored the hosts' lead and Matthew Fitzpatrick's goal extended Linfield's lead to 3-1 on the night but Haldorsson's late goal proved decisive as the Icelandic side progressed to face Estonian outfit Paide Linnameeskond in the second qualifying round.

Linfield had Chris Shields sent-off in the dying moments.

Linfield made a dream start when Joel Cooper swung in a left-footed cross from the right and Stjarnan skipper Kristjansson misjudged his clearing header with the ball skimming of the top of his head and flashing into his own net.

Linfield should have doubled their advantage on 23 minutes when Chris Shields’ long through ball sent Chris McKee clear on goal. The striker took his shot early and attempted to curl his effort around the keeper but put it wide of the far post.

At the other end, Sam Roscoe produced a vital goal-saving block to deny a Robert Thorkelsson shot inside the penalty area.

The visitors drew level on the night when Atlason stooped to nod home Thorkelsson’s corner from close range.

Chris Johns produced a vital point-blank save to deny Thorkelsson before Linfield regained the lead on 70 minutes when Kirk Millar’s left-footed cross was met with a glancing header by debutant defender Orr.

Six minutes later the tie was level on aggregate as Fitzpatrick swivelled to fire home an angled shot inside the penalty area.

But disaster struck for the Irish League side with two minutes left when Hakur Brink’s low cross was converted by the in-rushing Halldorsson, with Johns unable to keep the effort out.

Linfield had Shields shown a straight red card for halting a Stjarnan counter-attack in injury time, chopping down Hakur Brink and it’s the Icelandic side who go on to face Estonian opponents, who beat Welsh side Bala Town after extra-time.

After a disappointing first leg in Gibraltar last week, Derry began brightly and top scorer Hoban met the returning Michael Duffy’s cross from the left but couldn’t keep his header down.

The hosts stayed on top without doing enough to test former Glentoran keeper Dayle Coleing in the Magpies' goal and on 25 minutes they were nearly caught out against the run of play. Kevagn Ronco dug out a cross from the right that was glanced on by Javi Forjan and struck the outside of Brian Maher’s near post.

Hoban had the ball in the net on the half hour mark with a trademark header which he crashed in off the inside of the post but Andorran official Antoine Chiaramonti ruled it out for an apparent foul on Ruben Diaz.

The Candystripes finally opened the scoring on 38 minutes when Connolly rose to meet Duffy’s corner and buried it into the bottom corner.

However, right on half-time City were reduced to 10 when O’Reilly, picked up a second yellow for a dive after going down in the box under a challenge from Jean-Carlos Garcia.

O’Reilly was adamant he was clipped but the referee disagreed and his dismissal meant Ruaidhri Higgins’ side would have to play the second half a man down.

Derry did not come out in the second half like a team reduced to 10 men as they immediately went on the attack. McMullan had an effort from a narrow angle saved less than a minute after the restart while Hoban couldn’t apply the finish to his cutback.

The pressure paid off just before the hour mark from another corner when Hoban met Ben Doherty’s delivery. His initial header was blocked on the line by his team-mate Will Patching but the Derry number nine reacted fastest to bury the rebound.

Derry kept pushing but almost were caught out when Olatunde Bayode rounded Maher and his cross found Eduardo Salles but the Brazilian blazed over from six yards. McMullan also missed a late chance to seal the comeback so extra-time was needed to separate the sides.

Out of nowhere in the 111th minute, Juanje’s 30-yard effort came crashing off the bar and De Haro was quicker than the home defence to react and buried the rebound past Brian Maher.

Patching had an overhead kick headed off the line but Derry were unable to find a leveller which would have taken the game to penalty kicks.