David Sneyd

NOW THAT SHELBOURNE and Shamrock Rovers have learned their fate in the Uefa Conference League both clubs can begin to plan for an extended season.

With fixtures and dates set to be finalised by tomorrow at the latest – possibly this afternoon – supporters will soon be able to properly map out their European adventures.

What we know is that the six games will be played between 2 October and 18 December.

Shels will welcome Crystal Palace to Dublin during that time, and the club hierarchy are currently in the process of exploring options for their home games.

Tolka Park is out of the question due to Uefa requirements. As of yesterday afternoon, nothing had been made clear about the possibility of hosting their fixtures in different stadiums rather than designating a single venue.

Swedish side Hacken and Drita of Kosovo are also due in Dublin, with Shels bosses looking for clarification on the matter from the governing body.

There is some precedent here already – although it came during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 – when Dundalk played one of their Europa League group stage games in Tallaght Stadium and the other two in Aviva Stadium.

Tallaght Stadium is, of course, the obvious solution here although with Rovers also qualifying for the league phase there is the potential for some fixture clashes and logistical issues that may require some wiggle room.

Would Palace, the FA Cup holders, help command the kind of crowd that would make the 51,000-capacity Aviva viable? Given they were demoted from the Europa League due to multi-club rules – replaced by Premier League rivals Nottingham Forest – perhaps they might even find some kindred spirits in Drogheda United who were expelled altogether.

“When I was at Hull, I never thought I would be able to get the chance to play in the Conference League,” Shels star Harry Wood said. “One of the biggest stages in European football. For it to happen here, a club that I’ve loved being a part of ever since I’ve come in, it’s just surreal. I knew we had the quality of players when I came in 2023. It was just you never think that you’re going to do it. To do it with this squad and the staff and the whole club, it’s special.”

Shels will definitely travel to AZ Alkmaar – 30 minutes outside Amsterdam – and a meeting with Buckingham Street’s Troy Parrott. Shels are the nearest League of Ireland club to that part of north Dublin and while it’s not a homecoming it’s a subplot that supplies added emotion.

And there will be plenty on show in a competition that has captured the imagination of proud clubs and countries that have become marginalised by the growth of the game’s elite and consolidation of power.

Of the 36 teams from 29 different countries that have qualified for the Conference League, the League of Ireland (ranked 31st by Uefa) is the only one outside of the top 30 to have two sides taking part – they’re also the first to do so in league phase of European football.

Ukraine (28th) has two, and Rovers will face one of the them when Shakhtar come to Tallaght. Cyprus is 17th on that list and they also have a pair involved, not to mention the stunning rise of Pafos who won their first ever Cypriot title last season and progressed from the second qualifying round into the Champions League league phase without losing a single leg within their six ties.

Poland, ranked 13th, has all four of its teams in the Conference League while Czechia (10th) is the highest-ranked country with two sides.

The nature of the Champions League now is that it has squeezed opportunity, hence the importance of competitions like the Conference League that were a necessity to open up avenues for success to the rest of Europe.

Only 14 of the 36 teams competing in the blue riband tournament are actually their country’s reigning league winners, with 16 countries represented. England has six of its teams involved.

Shels are one 13 title holders from their country involved in the Conference League, with the champions of Ireland also paired with Drita and KF Shkendija, last season’s standard bearers in Kosovo and North Macedonia, respectively.

Rovers will also come up against Iceland’s premier side, Breidablik, as well as Maltese champions Hamrun Spartans.

Slovan Bratislava (Czechia), Dynamo Kyiv (Ukraine), Lech Poznan (Poland), Rijeka (Croatia), Zrinjski Mostar (Bosnia and Herzegovina), KuPS (Finland), Noah (Armenia) and Lincoln Red Imps (Gibraltar) are the other champion representatives in a competition that now brings a different focus to the rest of this year.

Rovers are used to it, their third time in four years making it this far, but for Shels it’s unchartered territory they look primed to embrace.