Rodney McAree guided his Swifts side to victory over Vaduz in Liechtenstein
A spectacular second-half strike from Sean McAllister earned Dungannon Swifts an impressive 1-0 away victory over Liechtenstein's FC Vaduz in the first leg of their Uefa Conference League second qualifying round tie.
McAllister found the net with a magnificent long-range effort in the 54th minute to put the Irish Cup winners in the driving seat before next Thursday's second leg, which will be played at Solitude in Belfast.
It was a first-ever European victory on the road for the Irish Premiership side, 18 years on from their last appearance in continental competition.
The 22-year-old match-winner was one of Swifts manager Rodney McAree's summer acquisitions, the midfielder returning to Stangmore Park after being released by Everton, having spent five years with the Premier League club.
Dungannon clinch deserved victory
Swifts defender Danny Wallace had to be alert in the early stages as he cleared the danger after the hosts had played a square ball across the box.
Visiting stopper Declan Dunne was then called into action, pushing the ball behind as Stephen Seller tried his luck on goal.
Just after the half hour mark, Dunne was on hand again to collect a low drilled strike from Mischa Eberhard.
Three minutes before the break, Dungannon went close to breaking the deadlock when Tiernan Kelly played a beautiful pass to McAllister, whose shot crashed off the left hand post.
The new Swifts recruit may have been thwarted on that occasion but nine minutes after the restart he was not to be denied as he scored with a stunning long-range effort to the delight of 200 travelling supporters.
McAllister noticed that Leon Schaffran was off his line and let loose an attempt from 35 yards with his shot curling into the net.
Vaduz tried to battle their way back into the game but a composed and defensively strong performance from the county Tyrone team saw them clinch a memorable victory.
Swifts have twice played in Europe before, when they lost in the 2006 Intertoto Cup to Keflavik IF in the first round and in qualifying for the 2007-08 Uefa Cup, when they were defeated by Lithuanian side FK Suduva.
Vaduz won the Liechtensteiner Cup final against Balzers to reach the second round of Conference League qualifying.
The winners of the tie will face Dutch giants AZ Alkmaar or Finnish side Ilves in the third round.
