This was never supposed to be comfortable, and nobody at Glentoran should be pretending otherwise. A 2-1 first-leg defeat always leaves a bruise, but Pat Hoban has at least said the quiet part out loud: this tie is far from finished, and RFS have not been handed a free pass into the next round.
That is the correct tone. Not panic, not resignation, not the soft surrender that too often follows a narrow European loss. Glentoran go to LNK Sporta Parks in Riga on Thursday evening at 5.30pm trailing by one goal in the UEFA Conference League first qualifying round, and that means the task is clear enough. Survive the pressure, stay in the game, and make the evening uncomfortable for the home side.
Hoban’s point is simple: Glentoran were not blown away in the first leg at the BetMcLean Oval, and they do not need to treat this as some impossible mission. He said the objective had always been to keep the tie alive for Riga, and that much has been achieved. He was also blunt enough to say that, on another night, Glentoran could have taken more from the first match. That is not blind optimism. It is the kind of assessment teams need when they are still standing in a knockout tie.
Why Glentoran can take something from this
There is a practical edge to Hoban’s confidence, too. He pointed to the fact that Glentoran asked questions of RFS and were unfortunate not to score more than once. Their set-pieces caused problems, Zeno Rossi looked dangerous in the air, and the overall message from the striker was that RFS are decent without being untouchable. That matters. In qualifiers like this, teams rarely need to be dominant. They need to be organised, awkward and ruthless when the chance arrives.
Hoban also stressed that Glentoran now know a bit more about their opponents, which is the sort of detail that can matter in these ties. The pressure, in theory, shifts to RFS as the home side. They will be expected to settle things early. Glentoran’s job is to spoil that script, frustrate the crowd and drag the game deep enough for one moment to change everything. If the score stays tight, the tension travels to the other end of the pitch.
That is where Hoban’s European experience gives this story real weight. He has been here before. In 2019, he was part of the Dundalk side that drew 0-0 with Riga FK in the first leg at Oriel Park before going through on penalties in Riga after normal time and extra-time also ended goalless. In 2020, he featured for Dundalk against Arsenal at the Emirates in the Europa League group stages and scored against Rapid Vienna in the same group. This is not a player speaking in clichés from a safe distance. He has lived the sort of nights Glentoran are chasing.
The message, then, is refreshingly direct. Glentoran are not out of this. They do not need a miracle, just a disciplined away performance and a little more conviction than they showed in key moments last week. Hoban has said the tie is still very much alive, and he is right. RFS may hold the advantage, but they have not yet proven they can finish the job. That is the opening Glentoran must try to exploit.
Thursday evening will tell the real story. For now, though, Hoban has done exactly what a senior striker should do: he has refused to let a one-goal deficit become a psychological surrender.
