SHAMROCK ROVERS’ CHAMPIONS League campaign has been ended by Bulgarian champions Ludogorets, but there is plenty of road left in their European campaign.
Rovers beat their vaunted opponents 2-1 at Tallaght tonight, but fell to a 4-2 loss on aggregate. They now drop into the third qualifying round of the Europa League, where they will face KF Shkupi, the reigning champions of North Macedonia. The first leg of that tie takes place at Tallaght on Thursday week.
The winners of that tie will qualify for the play-off round of the Europa League, and will thus be one round away from the group stages of that competition. The winners will also be guaranteed qualification for the group stage of the third-tier Conference League, where they will be sent should they lose their Europa League play-off.
The losers of the Rovers/Shkupi have another shot at group stage qualification: they will drop into the play-off round of the third-tier Conference League, which again is one round away from the group phase of that competition. That tie may be a difficult task, though, with Cluj and Lech Poznan among Rovers’ potential opponents should they need to take that route.
Should Rovers win their third qualifying round and then lose the play-off round, they will parachute directly into the group phase of the Conference League.
