Stephen Bradley praised his plucky Shamrock Rovers side despite going down 3-1 in Cyprus after coming from behind.
Aaron Greene's stunner against Apollon tied things up 3-3 on aggregate, but Adrian Sardinero snatched the winner in extra time to send the Cypriots through.
"We’re really disappointed with one or two of the goals we gave away," Bradley told the Irish Mirror.
“Our defending wasn’t right. That was very unlike us, to give those type of goals away.
“In the first half we didn’t play to our game plan. We were too defensive and we gave the game to Apollon.
“I can’t fault the players effort or desire or will to win from the second half onwards. From then on we were the team that was looking to win the game.
“In the first half we showed them too much respect. In the second we were very good.”
