FC Copenhagen 1 Shamrock Rovers 0:MICHAEL O’NEILL’S simple definition of success in a game like this is to score without conceding. As it turned out, his team did precisely the opposite here last night. Yet they left the Parken Stadion as anything but failures, for the narrow defeat they suffered after a disappointing start gives them a great deal to play for back in Tallaght next Tuesday.

When the Dubliners fell behind to a Solvi Ottesen header after just four minutes they would surely have jumped at the offer of such a narrow deficit. Over the remainder of the evening, though, they earned the right to be still playing for a place in the Champions League play-offs.

It was a performance of considerable character and composure against a side that, while packed with internationals, lacked the punch to get the extra goal or two that would have put the tie beyond the visitors.

The local fans cleared off quickly after some had booed their side’s performance, while the small travelling Rovers crowd serenaded their team long after the whistle.

The Dubliners, like most teams in their position, had travelled in the hope of keeping it tight and perhaps “nicking” something to bring back home with them.

Within a matter of minutes, though, they had failed on the first count with slack defending and poor goalkeeping leading to an early goal for the home side.

Ken Oman, to be fair, had actually done well enough under pressure to get in the challenge that led to the initial corner. But when Pierre Bengtsson’s effort was headed back to him and he floated a second cross to a point five yards out and a couple short of the near post, Ottesen was scarcely troubled as he applied the glancing header that sent the ball into the top right corner.

Goalkeeper Ryan Thompson, who had floundered under the corner, stood rooted to the spot as the ball hit the back of the net.

Rovers soon did enough to prompt the feeling the home side’s defence was hardly impregnable but the Copenhagen back four generally reacted quickly enough to their mistakes to get away with them, the earliest exception being when the Icelandic goalscorer dawdled as he took control of a Pat Sullivan cross.

Suddenly, Billy Dennehy stole in between the defender and his goalkeeper, Johan Wiland, who ended up saving from point-blank range when really the winger should have scored.

Thompson produced a quality reaction stop himself shortly before the break and came well to punch clear soon after, but, prior to a strong finish by the Jamaican, he still looked uncertain at times and the travelling fans must have been pleased that he had little enough to do for long spells.

Copenhagen had comfortably the greater share of the possession, helped at times by Rovers’ inability to keep the ball. But through the centre of the team, Conor McCormack, Ronan Finn and particularly Oman, who eventually went off injured, all did well, repeatedly winning the ball and using it well in sometimes difficult circumstances.

Somewhat inevitably, Gary Twigg looked a little isolated up front as O’Neill sought to keep bodies behind the ball and the visiting side posed more of a threat when building out of defence, usually down the wings, than when trying to break out at speed.

Even then, their comparative lack of height up front proved an issue and the importance of winning some set-pieces was underlined a third of the way through the second half when Oman was allowed a free header six yards out but missed the target badly with his attempt to turn Dennehy’s corner past Wiland.

Dennehy continued to be a key figure for the Irish side, with the Kerryman generating chances for Finn, a shot that flashed wide, and Twigg, a header that flew straight at the goalkeeper, and more than once the home support let it be known they weren’t happy with the way the night was proceeding.

Their side’s pursuit of a second goal certainly lacked the urgency they would have liked and while Christian Grindheim did force a decent save from Thompson with a long-range effort, Rovers never looked especially rattled as they battled their way through the closing stages of a second half that was tightly contested.

COPENHAGEN: Wiland; Thomsen (Sigurdsson, half-time), Ottesen (Nordstrand, 70 mins), Zanka, Bengtsson; Bolanos, Grindheim, Claudemir, Delaney (Absalonsen, 61 mins); Santin, Diouf.

SHAMROCK ROVERS: Thompson; Sullivan, Sives, Oman (Murray, 83 mins), Stevens; McCormack; Kelly (McCabe, 54 mins), Rice (Kilduff, 90 mins), Finn, Dennehy; Twigg.

Referee: P Radovanovic (Montenegro).