Shels, Shamrock Rovers, and Pats find out European routes
Last week's completion of a 2-1 aggregate victory over Linfield advanced the League of Ireland title holders to the second round of the Champions League.
A byproduct of progression is the guarantee of three extra European ties, ensuring two backdoors to the lucrative €3m group phase, were they to come up short against Qarabag.
Joey O'Brien's side host the Azerbaijani champions in Wednesday's first leg at Tolka Park before making the long trek to Baku a week later.
Group stage involvement has been a constant for Qarabag over the last 11 years but should they be rumbled by the Reds, the Irish kingpins will be rewarded by facing the winner of a tie between Macedonians Shkendija and FCBS, the club rebuilt from the ashes of 1986 champions Steaua Bucharest from Romania.
Were stature and resources to apply, and Shels slip out of the supreme competition, awaiting them in the Europa League will be the loser of a Champions League clash between Ludogorets (Bulgaria) or Rijeka (Croatia). Failure to advance there still leaves them a third life of a Conference League playoff.
Elsewhere, Shamrock Rovers have fared well by drawing either Ballkani of Kosovo or Malta's Floriana in the third round. They must first dispose of St Joseph's of Gibraltar, starting with Thursday's away leg.
St Patrick's Athletic will also be favourites to see off Nomme Kalju of Estonia, kicking off at Richmond Park on Thursday, and will meet in the third round the loser of the tie between Ole Gunnar Solskjær's Besiktas or Shakhtar Donetsk if they prevail.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Irish Daily Mirror
8 minutes ago
- Irish Daily Mirror
Evan Ferguson breaks his silence after season-long move to Roma confirmed
Evan Ferguson says he wants to prove himself at new club Roma by playing regularly and scoring goals in Serie A. The 20-year-old Ireland striker admits it was hard to turn down the opportunity to join one of European football's giants after his season-long move was confirmed today. "It's a big club and we want to finish as high as we can," said Ferguson, who has passed a medical. "When I came in we were talking about Champions League targets and getting back up there, that's the expectation of this season." "When you have a club like Roma, one of the biggest in Europe that are interested, it's hard to turn down – especially when you feel like they want you to come here, saying how good it could be for you and your career. For me it's a good opportunity." Ferguson, who began his senior career before moving to Brighton in early 2021, is looking to revitalise his career after injury and a lack of opportunities at Brighton and on loan to West Ham, where he only made eight appearances and started just once. He was greeted by hundreds of Roma fans on his arrival on Sunday and says he is inspired to prosper on this stage. "When I landed you could tell the culture straight away, how big the club is, from landing you can hear the fans, people and cameras and interviews," said Ferguson. AS Roma player Evan Ferguson during a training session at Centro Sportivo Fulvio Bernardini (Image: Luciano Rossi/AS Roma via Getty Images) "It's a big honour to come and play in front of people who want to see you do well. I can do a few different things but the main thing I want to do is score goals, prove myself and get back out there. I just want to get out there, play football and score goals." The Meathman will have to quickly prove himself as he is working with a new coach in Gian Piero Gasperini at a club with an established first-choice striker in Ukrainian international Artem Dobvyk. "Before you join a club you have to look at who the manager is and how the club is run, for me at this stage in my career he'd be a good man to play under, to work under and learn from, his history with striker is very good and hopefully I can be the same," Ferguson remarked. "It's a club full of good players, Dovyk as well, hopefully we can work well in training and have a good partnership, see what system the coach wants to play. "Hopefully I can do well and lead the path out here, hopefully we can have more (Irish) in the future. It's not an easy league, trying to compare it to the Premier League, the Italians love defending so I am sure it will be tough out there - especially in the heat." Get the latest sports headlines straight to your inbox by signing up for free email alerts.
Irish Daily Mirror
38 minutes ago
- Irish Daily Mirror
Tributes paid to pioneering Irish Olympian who has passed away
The Olympic Federation of Ireland has led the tributes for Ireland's first female track and field Olympian Maeve Kyle, who has passed away at the age of 97. Kyle, who was born in Kilkenny in 1928, competed at three Olympic Games - Melbourne 1956, Rome 1960, and Tokyo 1964 – and is rightly described by the OFI as a trailblazer and pioneer of women's sport. The 'Kilkenny kitten' represented Ireland as a sprinter and middle-distance runner - Kyle competed in the 100m and 200m in the 1956 and 1960 Games, and qualified for the 400m semi-finals in 1964 at the age of 36. The following year, she took bronze in the European indoors and, at 41, reached the Commonwealth Games final. Away from the track she also earned 58 caps for Ireland's hockey team, while she also competed at tennis, sailing, swimming and golf. Kyle later became a coach and mentor and helped establish the Ballymena & Antrim Athletics Club. Former Irish Olympic athlete and Irish international hockey player Maeve Kyle with Katie Taylor in 2012 (Image: ©INPHO/Cathal Noonan) The Irish Sports Council presented her with its Lifetime Achievement Award in 2006. In the same year, she received the European Coaches Association Lifetime Achievement Award. She was also appointed an OBE for her services to sport. OFI president Lochlann Walsh said: 'We have lost a legend of Irish Olympic Sport who rose to the top despite huge challenges in 1950s Ireland. She was an inspiration to us all. May she rest in peace.' Peter Sherrard, the OFI's chief executive, added: 'Our thoughts today are with Maeve's extended family, friends and relatives. Her achievements in life gave inspiration to so many Irish women who followed in her footsteps as Olympians." Athletics Northern Ireland also paid tribute to Kyle's achievements in a statement. "The use of the term 'legend' has become overused in the world of sport but in referring to Maeve in such terms is to grossly underestimate her career as an athlete and her contribution to athletics, and especially women's athletics, both in Northern Ireland and throughout the Island of Ireland," the statement read. "If Maeve was determined and successful as an athlete she was equally, if not more so, as an administrator. It is hard for the present generation to appreciate the environment that female athletes competed in in the latter part of the 20th Century. Maeve Kyle at an Irish Olympic training camp in New South Wales in 2000 (Image: ©INPHO/Phil Carrick) "It was only in the 1950's that the NI Women's Association was formed and Championships began to be held and it was the Kyles who were primarily responsible for its formation and development." An Athletics Ireland statement read: "Maeve's contribution to Irish athletics, including her coaching work with Ballymena & Antrim AC and her unwavering support for emerging athletes in Northern Ireland and beyond, has left an indelible mark on our sport. "Maeve Kyle was more than a legend; she was a torchbearer who lit the path for those who followed. Her legacy lives on in the athletes she inspired and the standards she set. "On behalf of the athletics community across Ireland, Athletics Ireland extend our heartfelt condolences to her daughter Shauna, her granddaughter Indy, to the extended Kyle and Shankey families, her many friends, and all those whose lives she touched through her extraordinary career and enduring legacy." Get the latest sports headlines straight to your inbox by signing up for free email alerts.
RTÉ News
an hour ago
- RTÉ News
William Buick picks up plum ride on Field Of Gold at Goodwood
William Buick will ride Field Of Gold in next week's Visit Qatar Sussex Stakes at Goodwood. Narrowly beaten in the 2000 Guineas at Newmarket when partnered by Kieran Shoemark, John and Thady Gosden's three-year-old has made no mistake in two subsequent starts under Juddmonte's retained rider Colin Keane, emulating his sire Kingman with brilliant victories in both the Irish Guineas and the St James's Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot. With Keane currently serving a suspension after contravening the whip rules, connections needed to secure a new pilot for Field Of Gold's next appearance – and having revealed Buick was "on the list" of potential riders two weeks ago, he has now been confirmed for the high-profile mount. Barry Mahon, Juddmonte's European racing manager, said: "I think John and Thady were to talk to William yesterday to confirm his availability and it sounds like they've done that and he's free to ride him, so I'd say that's the plan. "In fairness, until you get to within a week of the event you don't know what other trainers and jockeys are doing, but obviously William has been able to commit now which is good. "He's a top-class rider and rode a Group One winner for us last October on board Kalpana, so it's good to have him on board." Field Of Gold is set to head a quality Juddmonte team bound for the Sussex Downs, with fellow three-year-olds Cosmic Year and Jonquil also poised for action. The Harry Charlton-trained Cosmic Year was second to Field Of Gold in the Irish 2,000 Guineas before failing to fire in the Prix Jean Prat at Deauville, while Andrew Balding's Greenham Stakes winner Jonquil will step back up in trip after finding the six furlongs of the Commonwealth Cup at Royal Ascot too sharp. Field Of Gold's Lockinge-winning stablemate Lead Artist meanwhile holds a Sussex Stakes entry, but appears unlikely to be on the Goodwood squad. "I'd say Cosmic Year will run in the Thoroughbred Stakes, the Group Three over a mile, at the minute that's the plan," Mahon added. "Jonquil worked nicely this morning and he's a probable to run in the Lennox over seven (furlongs).
