St Patrick’s Athletic bowed out of the Uefa Cup on Tuesday evening but only after a heroic performance against Hertha Berlin at the RDS.

Saints hit the woodwork twice in the second half, goalkeeper Jaroslav Drobny denied Ryan Guy with a fine stop and a genuine penalty claim was turned down as the Inchicore side did the eircom League of Ireland proud.

The exceptional Keith Fahey smashed a left-foot drive off the post with Drobny beaten and Gary Dempsey hit the same part of the same post as Pats sought a breakthrough in vain.

Hertha also had their chances on the break, with on-loan Liverpool forward Andrei Voronin guilty of an amazing miss, but the Bundesliga outfit’s two-goal victory in Berlin two weeks ago sees them advance to the group stages.

Despite being compelled to play into the teeth of the wind at the Ballsbridge venue, Saints produced an exceptional first half display.

A central aim to Johnny McDonnell’s pre-match team talk will have been to keep things tight for at least the first quarter – concession of a goal would have left Saints requiring four, effectively killing off the tie.

Perhaps it was the slightly under-motivated attitude of the visitors, but Pats succeeded on that front with ease, and after the sparring of the first 15 minutes carried the fight to Hertha for the next half hour.

Guy set the ball rolling on the right flank, tormenting his marker on the deck or in the air, while Keith Fahey was uniformly excellent in central midfield.

Saints’ best chance also arrived via the right flank, with Mark Quigley leaving Croatia star Josip Simunic on his rear end before finding Dempsey at the far post.

The former Everton and Aberdeen man headed goalwards but Drobny was able to save and Dempsey was unfortunate to see the rebound cannon off his legs and behind for a goal-kick.

Quigley fired over from a clear chance - although a linesman’s flag rendered it meaningless in any case – while a penalty shout was turned down when Fabian Lustenberger seemed to handle Fahey’s corner inside the area.

Hertha had shown precious little in attack but they gave a warning of their quality a minute before the break with Brazilian midfielder Cicero outsmarting Jamie Harris before finding the run of Lukas Piszczek. He took the ball past Barry Ryan but from a tight angle could only cut the ball back across goal and a relieved Dave Rogers, seeing no Hertha player in close proximity, was able to clear.

Two weeks ago in Berlin, the game turned in Hertha’s favour inside the first few minutes of the second half and they almost repeated the trick at the RDS.

Cicero was again involved, forcing Ryan into an alert save from a swerving 25-yard effort after less than a minute. He then set up Voronin with a clever through-ball but the Ukrainian, afforded the freedom of the penalty area, slashed the ball high and wide of the Saints goal.

Pats took heart from that miss and Fahey turned on the style with a five-minute masterclass. He darted across the edge of the area before unleashing a low drive which cannoned back off the woodwork. The waiting Guy fired the rebound wide but was flagged offside.

Moments later, Fahey sent an exquisite 50-yard pass into the path of Guy. The American outpaced his marker but Drobny was equal to his angled drive from ten yards.

And the chances kept on coming. A Dempsey cross eluded both the Czech goalkeeper and the onrushing Quigley while Dempsey smashed a dropping ball against the post after Hertha had failed to clear a Fahey corner.

Next Fixture

Cork City / October 3rd @ 7:30pm
Competition: FAI Cup
Venue: Turners Cross
  Tweet #stpatsfc

Team	Pld	Pts
Shamrock Rovers	30	60
Bohemian FC	31	50
Derry City	31	50
St Patrick's Athletic	31	46
Drogheda United	31	46
Shelbourne	30	43
Sligo Rovers	31	34
Waterford FC	31	34
Galway United	31	31
Cork City	31	23