David Sneyd reports from Letná Stadium, Prague

STEPHEN BRADLEY SAYS his players are primed for another successful Uefa Conference League campaign as the Shamrock Rovers boss targeted reaching the knockout stages of the competition for a second season in a row.

Speaking alongside captain Roberto Lopes at the Letná Stadium on the eve of tomorrow’s clash with Sparta Prague, the pair insisted that League of Ireland clubs must also strive to make appearances in European competition a regular occurrence.

With Shelbourne also preparing for their first Conference League campaign when they host Hacken of Sweden in Dublin tomorrow, Bradley and Lopes spoke of the challenge to continue the Irish club game’s progress on the European stage.

Bradley described League of Ireland clubs as “the shining light” for the Irish game and admitted he felt a sense of responsibility to sustain the club’s development. Lopes added to that sense ahead of what means for Rovers and Shels to be in action on the same night.

“It says we’re going in the right direction, to have two Irish teams in the European competition, it’s amazing, I really do mean that, and that has to be the challenge for us next year, can we get three teams in?” the Cape Verde international, who is also on the verge of qualifying for the World Cup, said.

“We look to strive to progress this league, and you do it on this stage, really, because this is where people really take notice of you, and say, ‘these Irish teams are no mugs anymore’. It’s great, this year we have two teams, can we continue that for next year, and maybe get one more in?”

Bradley continued on that theme, and the sense of battling against stereotypes from European peers. “I think we’ve felt that for quite some time, to be honest, I think it’s about gaining that respect, and I think the group have done that over time, and it’s about keep building on that for ourselves,” he said.

“When you are true to what you do, you believe in it, and are good at that, you gain respect, by trusting in it and believing in it. It’s great that we have Shelbourne kicking off on Thursday night as well, and I fully agree with Pico, next year we should be looking at can we get the maximum number of teams in? Is it hard? Of course it’s going to be hard.

“If we want to keep striving to be better and improve in the league, that’s the aims we should have. If it doesn’t happen next year, then it’s the year after. We can’t be in a one- year cycle, we’ve got to look longer than that, as a league and as a team.

“We all know the product on the pitch, and domestically it’s getting better and better, we know what we need to improve, but it’s our responsibility to keep pushing the standards, and this group is doing that.”

Bradley will be without Lee Grace (calf injury) and Aaron Greene (sickness) tomorrow against a side that beat Rovers 6-2 on aggregate in Champions League qualifiers last year. Regardless, the Rovers head coach is aiming for progress to the last 16 of the Conference League after losing to Molde in the knockout stage play-off.

“That’s been a target from day one of pre-season. What’s the better of what we did last year? Can we do that? Time will tell. But that is the aim. We shouldn’t shy away from that, ever,” he said.

“We’re a group that has grown and wants to be better and want to get better every year. So you have to challenge yourself. Our challenge this year is domestically, we wanted to be better in both competitions.

“In Europe, we want to go further than what we did last year. Like I said, we believe we can do that. Time will tell if we can, but we believe that we can do it. I said last year I really like the league phase, the way it’s set up now in Europe, because it gives you opportunities.

“As the games go on, you start to understand what the league phase, what’s going to need to go and qualify. Last year we missed out on qualifying automatically by two goals and we’ll try and make sure that doesn’t happen again this year.”