Denied by the post twice. Denied as clear a penalty as you're likely to see. And generally in control of the game throughout.

As hard luck stories go, this was not your typical tale of woe as the League of Ireland's last remaining flag bearers bowed out of the UEFA Cup with a performance that belied the stark contrast in resources between them and their opponents.

Trailing 2-0 from the first leg, St Patrick's Athletic knew they had a tough task against a Hertha Berlin side that could have gone third in the Bundesliga if they had beaten Energie Cottbus at the weekend.

Gary Dempsey misses one of Pat's many chances on the nightHowever, their start to season has been far from impressive and Pat's manager Johnny McDonnell believed that his players could expose their many weaknesses and take something from the tie, and sure enough the Germans were lucky to escape from a blustery RDS with a 0-0 draw.

Yes, it is the Germans who advance, but the evening was all about Pat's, who matched their impressive work-rate and defensive discipline with an equal amount of penetration and panache.

And how Hertha managed to leave with their goal, and 2-0 aggregate lead, intact only they will know as only the width of the post twice came to their rescue as Pat's threw the proverbial kitchen sink at the visitors.

They exit the tournament with an impressive record of won three, drew two and lost one from their six European outings against JFK Olimps, IF Elfsborg and Hertha, doing much to improve the league's UEFA co-efficient going into next season.

Together with decent European results for Drogheda United and Bohemians already this year, and together with the recent changes made by UEFA to the co-efficient rankings, Irish clubs will be better poised than ever before to make progress in Europe in 2009.

Next Fixture

Cork City / October 3rd @ 7:30pm
Competition: FAI Cup
Venue: Turners Cross
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Team	Pld	Pts
Shamrock Rovers	31	63
Derry City	32	51
Bohemian FC	32	50
Drogheda United	32	47
St Patrick's Athletic	32	46
Shelbourne	31	46
Sligo Rovers	32	37
Galway United	32	34
Waterford FC	32	34
Cork City	32	23