AIMING HIGH
Cork hoping domestic form will carry onto continental stage
SHAMROCK Rovers were the originals, blazing a trail for League of Ireland clubs in the 1957/58 European Cup. Manchester United’s Busby Babes extinguished their hopes in the opening round but, 60 years on, the flame of adventure continues to flicker as the Hoops are one of three Premier Division sides in action on the continent today. The aggregate scoreline defeats for Irish teams during their first decade, in what is now the Champions League, read like the tallies the Dublin footballers run up before the first can of Bud is finished at the back of the Hill in the Leinster Championship.
A 2-9 loss for Rovers against United.
A 1-13 demolition of Drumcondra by Atletico Madrid.
A 1-7 hammering for Shelbourne at the hands of Sporting Lisbon.
The list of defeats to less vaunted opponents goes on in a similar vein until Waterford eventually reached the second round with a 4-1 win against Linfield over two legs in 1970.
It didn’t take quite so long for a League of Ireland side to crack it in the secondary European competition. Athlone Town edged past Norway’s Valerengen 4-2 in the UEFA Cup first round in 1975 — before holding the mighty AC Milan to a goalless draw in the home leg of the next round — just four seasons after Shels made their debut in the tournament which has since been reborn as the Europa League.
Rovers were the first to reach the group stages in 2011, followed by Dundalk last season, and the Hoops join Derry City and Cork City front and centre today. All head into their respective ties with varying levels of expectations. For Stephen Bradley and his players they will be seeking redemption following the club’s dismal display which cost former manager Pat Fenlon his job last summer.
They were dumped out at the first time of asking by ROPS, who are based on the Arctic Circle in Lapland, and while only three of the starting XI which lost 2-0 at Tallaght Stadium are likely to feature against Stjarnan in Iceland this evening, there remains a sense that they need to put things right.
‘Yeah, looking back on it now it’s a bit strange because I thought we were a much better team than them,’ striker Gary Shaw, who has survived the cull along with Simon Madden and Brandon Miele, explained of the ROPS embarrassment. ‘It’ just disappointing,
For Derry, manager Kenny Shiels has already stressed that his main aim is avoiding embarrassment against FC Midtjylland.
The Danes’ recent pedigree suggests the Candystripes are in for a tough test — they beat Manchester United 2-1 on their home patch before losing 5-1 at Old Trafford two years ago and also knocked out Southampton over two legs.
But striker Rory Patterson, the only player to score a hat-trick for a League of Ireland club in European action, is adamant these are the ties to relish.
‘Look there is a lot of doom and gloom about it but at the end of the day, as players, the Champions League is the top one but for teams like us in our country you want to play the big teams in the Europa League,’ he said.
‘You could have got an easier team to progress but we’re going there and they are a well-established European team. We’re looking forward to it because it will be a great experience, especially for the younger boys. It’s going to be their first taste of it.’
And as League of Ireland clubs well know, the experience is often bitter sweet.