The first opportunity of the half fell to Shelbourne on ten minutes when Richie Baker met a cross with a firm header but his effort was parried by the goalkeeper onto the back of one of his defenders and the rebound bounced off the post before being cleared. The niggling incidents continued and the game was constantly interrupted by free kicks. Alan Moore was cautioned for one particularly unpleasant challenge.

Shelbourne fell behind on 19 minutes when a hopeful long ball exposed their defence and Nicolita ran through to comfortably sidefoot home. The situation was further compounded nine minutes later when utter confusion reigned between goalkeeper Dean Delaney and his defenders and David Crawley’s hurried clearance only served to set up, Iacob for the second goal.

For the next ten minutes, Steaua Bucharest were in complete control of the game and had three gilt edged opportunities all of which were missed. Five minutes before the break, Steaua were made to pay for their largresse when in a rare Shelbourne attack, Ollie Cahill delivered a fine cross from the right for Jason Byrne to head home. A relieved Shelbourne entered the changing rooms at half time with optimism renewed.

The opening fifteen minutes of the half saw Shelbourne compete on level terms with their opponents and remain hopeful of obtaining a second goal, which would send them through to the next round. However, this hope gradually faded as the hosts began to take control and dominate proceedings. Shelbourne’s task became stellar on sixty five minutes when a dreadful mis-kick by goalkeeper Delaney allowed Dinita to tap into an empty net.

At this juncture, manager, Pat Fenlon introduced Wes Hoolihan and he immediately began to have a positive impact on the game. Hoolihan’s control and trickery created a number of openings but he was let down by his colleagues who failed to convert any of them. The best opportunity fell to Glen Crowe but he shot well wide.

Steaua were reduced to nine men when with three minutes remaining, goalscorer, Dinita received a red card following a second bookable offence. The dismissal did not disturb the home side who proceeded to score a fourth goal in the final minute when a penalty, awarded against Owen Hear for handball was tucked away by Oprita.