Byrne is 50/50 to feature
SHAMROCK R V FK SHKUPI CSKA SOFIA v ST PAT’S ATH
Brandywell for a league game tomorrow week and Bradley said: “We still have to make a final call on that.
Enough
“We might come on Wednesday because we can’t fly in on Tuesday straight after the game. There is a problem with not enough staff to take the plane in Dublin.
“We might stay over (in Skopje) and come back late Wednesday evening and just stay in Belfast or Derry.”
JACK BYRNE is only a 50/50 chance to feature for Shamrock Rovers in Europe tonight.
The Ireland midfielder has been dogged by injuries over the last two months and hasn’t started for the Hoops since May 23. He shipped a calf injury in that clash away to Drogheda United and was sidelined for seven weeks.
Byrne returned to action and came off the bench late on in
Rovers’
Champions
League game away to
Hibernians on July 12.
He hasn’t featured since because of a hip-flexor/stomach problem but did some training yesterday.
Hoops boss
Stephen Bradley said: “It will be 50/50 on Jack. I wouldn’t say you’ll see him starting. He’ll be involved, if he has come through (training ok).
“If he’s feeling it or slightly in doubt he won’t be involved.”
Clash
Roberto Lopes definitely misses the clash with the North Macedonian outfit in Tallaght.
The centre-back is out for another seven weeks after damaging medial knee ligaments in the recent home draw with Drogheda.
Bradley said: “He’s had two scans, seen the surgeon and they’re all happy that he doesn’t need surgery and that his rehab will be fine.”
New signing Simon Power, who made his debut in the
FAI Cup win over Bangor Celtic, is likely to miss out after a knock in training on Monday.
Quizzed on Shkupi, Bradley said: “They’re interesting. When you watch them away to Dinamo Zagreb they should have won the game (2-2 draw). “And when you watch them at home to Dinamo they should have lost it by more than they did (1-0). It’s a really interesting one.” (below)
The 28-year-old Scot says the bigger the occasion the better for the Inchicore club.
“Well personally, yeah, I like that,” King said. “There’s a lot of young boys and stuff but as I said, these are the nights you play football for.
“That’s why you want to play in Europe, for these types of nights, and I think that will drive the boys on as we’ve shown in the past as well, when we’ve played in hostile atmospheres.
“Hopefully we can use that to our advantage and get a decent result.
Trained
“We trained at the stadium earlier on and it’s massive, the pitch is big, we’re not sure how many fans will be attending but if it’s even half full, there will be some atmosphere.
“These are the games that we all look forward to. The boys thrive on these sorts of games and that’s what you want to be playing in, in Europe.
“So yeah, hopefully it’s a decent atmosphere and hopefully we get a decent result.”
The Saints faced a marathon trip yesterday — they flew on a charter out of knock that stopped over in Strasbourg before flying on to Sofia.
Shamrock Rovers felt an exhaustive trip hindered their chances against Ludogorets in the Champions League, but Clancy last night played down his squad’s travel issues.
“No, it was quite good actually, we’re right beside the airport, 15 minutes away, so we actually got here a little earlier than expected,” he said.
Clancy’s biggest issue this week is curing the hangover from Sunday’s FAI Cup first round defeat to Waterford, an all the more painful exit given the Saints were the Cup holders.
“The FAI Cup last year was a huge occasion for the club so we’re really disappointed to go out of the competition at the first time of asking,” he said.
“So it’s something that we’ve spoken about and we’re not happy with, but listen, we’ve got a quick turnaround and we’ve got to put in a performance that will keep us alive in this tie.”
Despite that disappointment,
Clancy senses belief in his squad after overcoming Mura — who beat Tottenham in the group stages last year.
“We certainly take belief out of those two legs going into this tie,” he remarked.
“But listen, we know it’s going to be a big ask and we’ll certainly have to have a strong defensive and attacking performance to have a chance of progressing in this tie.”
Pat’s will be without the suspended Mark Doyle and Adam Murphy, who has a hamstring injury, while Eoin Doyle and Chris Forrester should be relatively fresh after coming off the bench in the 3-2 Cup loss.
Level
King acknowledges that the Saints will have to go up a level to have a chance of progressing to a play-off. He said: “The Mura game was a big tie for us and we proved that we can compete at that level.
“It was a very good performance at home and we got the job done in the away leg, and I think this is going to be a step up from that.
“The second leg in Mura was a massive night.
“Sofia is an unbelievable team with talented players. These are massive ties.”