SETANTA SPORTS WILL show the second leg of Shamrock Rovers’ Europa League tie against Partizan Belgrade tonight, after a late deal was reached.
RTÉ showed live coverage of last week’s first leg, in which Rovers unexpectedly secured a 1-1 draw, to give themselves every chance of getting a positive result in tonight’s game and consequently, gaining entry into the Europa League group stages.
Setanta’s marketing director Brian Quinn spoke of the determined effort his company made to secure the rights:
“We have persisted all week to try to get the rights and have extended our budgets to get the game.”
He added that he was disappointed that other broadcasters did not show a similar level of determination to secure the rights, and wished the team success in their endeavours.
The coverage of the game begins at 7.30pm on Setanta Ireland, while Setanta Sports 1 will be showing coverage of FC Sion versus Celtic.
If the Irish side win tonight, it will be the first time ever that they have advanced to the group stages of the competition.