A dejected Liam Boyce as Derry City fell behind Inpho

Derry City's involvement in Europe ended with defeat to Rijeka at Brandywell

Odhran Crumley
BBC Sport NI JournalistBrandywell

Derry City bowed out of the Uefa Conference League qualifiers after Rijeka won 1-0 at Brandywell.

Daniel Adu-Adjei's 14th minute goal increased Rijeka's advantage to 2-0 on aggregate and was enough to secure the Croatian side's spot in the third qualifying round.

Liam Boyce had a chance to open the scoring early in the contest for the Candystripes in a game where the first goal was sure to be vital.

Toni Fruk, fresh from representing Croatia at the World Cup, showed glimpses of class and his side will now face Ilves of Finland.

The result ends Tiernan Lynch's side's involvement in Europe as they return to league action on Sunday, 2 August with a trip to Dublin to take on St Patrick's Athletic.

Rijeka ease into next round

Derry City, backed by a rapturous home crowd, dominated the opening exchanges of the contest.

The Candystripes really should have levelled the contest on aggregate early on when Michael Duffy and Ellis Chapman combined to set up Liam Boyce.

However, the striker watched his effort from 10 yards saved by the outstretched Aleksa Todorovic.

Derry were made to rue their missed opportunities as ex-Bournemouth striker Adu-Adjei latched onto a poor back-pass from Cameron Dummigan and raced clear to finish superbly beyond Brian Maher to double the visitors' aggregate advantage after just 14 minutes.

The goal knocked the stuffing out of Lynch's side as the Croatians started to get into their groove and control both the ball and the tempo of the contest.

The Candystripes needed a spark in the second half but it never arrived and the visitors could have doubled their lead when Adu-Adjei shot wide before heading off target from point-blank-range.

Duffy had a chance from a free-kick, but Derry's European exploits ended with a relative whimper.