After reaching the group stage of the Uefa Conference League, the glamour ties follow as Shelbourne welcome Crystal Palace to Dublin and Shamrock Rovers travel to AEK Athens and Sparta Prague.
The League of Ireland’s strongest clubs will eventually face reality across a gruelling winter as six Thursday nights of European action run from October into Christmas week.
This is what a proper football nation looks like, although Rovers and Shels embark on the same journey from distinctly differently positions of strength.
The Hoops, under Stephen Bradley since 2016, are gradually learning how to compete in the Conference League, having made the cut for the third time in four years.
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In contrast, Shelbourne and their rookie head coach Joey O’Brien enter new territory after 130 years of existence.
Last season, Rovers lost their title to Shels while distracted by lucrative European ties at Tallaght Stadium. After reaching the knockout rounds of the Conference League, where they lost on penalties to Norway’s Molde, they have bounced back to close in on a fifth title in six years.
Shelbourne are currently sixth in the Premier Division, 14 points behind the table-topping Hoops.
The Shels team that beat Linfield 2-0 at Windsor Park on Thursday night had five new players – Mipo Odubeko, Kerr McInroy, Milan Mbeng, James Norris on loan from Liverpool and Dutch goalkeeper Wessel Speel on loan from Minnesota United – who were all signed to make them competitive in Europe.
O’Brien’s side only started four Irish men - Odubeko, JJ Lunney, Paddy Barrett and Sean Gannon, in contrast to 10 in the Rovers team that saw out a 2-1 aggregate victory against Portuguese club Santa Clara. The 11th player is actually from Crumlin but since 2019, Pico Lopes has made 31 appearances for Cape Verde where his father was born.
Rovers have hardly stood still, signing a hugely influential midfielder in Matthew Healy and exposing 17-year-old striker Michael Noonan to the professional game.
Neither way is wrong, but Shelbourne are more comparable to Rovers’ first foray into the Conference League in 2022, when their need to retain the league title was prioritised over group games in Sweden, Belgium and Norway.
Out of the FAI Cup, Shels have nine matches to close a six-point gap to Derry City in third place if they want to return to Europe in 2026.
Both Shelbourne and Shamrock Rovers are funded by private investment in their first teams and club academies. Tech entrepreneur Neil Doyle has a co-ownership role at Tolka Park and billionaire financier Dermot Desmond owns 25 per cent of Rovers.
As the FAI applies for €8 million annually in Government funding over 11 years to professionalise 26 club academies across the country, the wonder is how sustainable it is for two Irish clubs to continually qualify for the Conference League without State support.
“We’ve done it the last three of four years without the Government money,” said Bradley before adding: “No, we need it. There’s no getting away from it. We need the Government. But I also understand the Government’s point of view of why they’ve been cautious. It’s not about just throwing money around.
“It’s our job as a league to keep pushing forward, keep growing it, keep having people talking about it in a positive light. That can only build trust with the people who make the decisions.”
Bradley has been invited into Leinster House, alongside the FAI, to explain to politicians the importance of investment in academies, especially now that Brexit blocks Irish teenagers from joining an English club until they turn 18.
Rovers recently agreed a €2 million fee to sell 16-year-old Victor Ozhianvuna to Arsenal in 2027.
“It’s about the Government trusting that the money’s going to be spent for the right reasons in the right areas,” Bradley continued. “We all know that we need the Government to really see the full potential of this league. Not just this club; this league.”
The Rovers boss also had an interesting perspective on the FAI announcing redundancies that could range from 40 to 70 job losses.
“I think the FAI, the umbrella, was far too big for far too long in every way. They can’t do that. It’s unmanageable. They can’t have their hands in everything around the country and every department and every league. And that’s where a lot of the lack of trust comes from, from both sides."
The task ahead for Rovers is typically ambitious – wrap up the double and learn from last year’s experimental off-season to return to the Conference League knockout round in February.
“For me, I want to win the league, I want to win the cup,” Bradley added. “And I want to do what we did last year [in Europe]. That’s our aim.”
Last season, an understrength Rovers were knocked out by Molde, which denied them an additional €800,000 windfall on top of earning €7.26 million in Uefa prize money.
Also, in the January 2025 transfer window, Bradley lost Neil Farrugia to Barnsley, Johnny Kenny returned to Celtic and Darragh Burns joined Grimsby Town while the squad struggled with injuries to key players like Rory Gaffney and Jack Byrne.
This prompted the promotion of Noonan and Ozhianvuna to the first team.
[ What comes next for Damien Duff could be as enigmatic as the man himselfOpens in new window ]
During the Uefa draw in Monaco on Friday afternoon, presenter Matt Smith referred to the lowest-ranked club left in Europe as “Damien Duff’s Shelbourne”.
On Thursday night, on the Windsor Park pitch in Belfast, O’Brien paid tribute to Duff, who he replaced as manager on June 23rd after the Ireland legend unexpectedly resigned.
“It is a continuation of Damien and what we built over the last three years,” he said. “Group-stage football was our aim. Damien is not here for the last part, but he played a huge role in that dressing room.”
