Ronnie McFall and Darren Kelly celebrated Europa League progress

Portadown skipper Darren Kelly believes his side's Europa League win over Skonto Riga should give a lift to Irish League sides competing in Europe.

A Richard Lecky goal secured a 1-0 away win for Ronnie McFall's men on Thursday and they went through 2-1 on aggregate.

"Nobody expected us to win. We just wanted to go out and give it our best shot. We worked hard and got the result we deserved," said the Ports defender.

"It should give Irish League teams a bit of confidence in Europe."

Kelly said they had approached the second leg with a game plan which worked well.

"We wanted to catch them on the break. They came at us and created chances but David Miskelly did not really have any saves to make," added Kelly.

"We kept it nice and compact and it was a matter of keeping calm heads.

"I think they took us a bit for granted."

Kelly said they had to approach their next opponents, Qarabag from Azerbaijan, with the same passion and hunger.

The first leg is at Shamrock Park on Thursday, 15 June, kick-off 1945 BST.

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