Shamrock Rovers are on home soil, as they seek to clear the final qualification hurdle and reach the UEFA Conference League group stages for the third season in succession.
Stephen Bradley’s men hit the ground running in a stellar 2024/25 campaign, as their only defeat came at Stamford Bridge, winning three games to finish 10th in the 36 team standings.
A 1-0 win at home to Molde in the knockout stages saw Michael Noonan hit the net at just 16 years of age, but the League of Ireland champions were defeated on penalties by the Norwegians, to mark the end of a memorable campaign.
Last season saw Rovers finish a disappointing 31st overall, with their sole win coming in round six having already been eliminated, though they did manage an impressive draw away to AEK Athens on matchday three.
While 2025/26 marked a debut for Shelbourne in the competition, it was also a first for Rovers’ next opponents KuPs.
The Finnish champions look set to record three-in-a-row in the Veikkausliga, while they drew 2-2 with eventual champions Crystal Palace in last season’s Conference League group stages.
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Like Rovers a season prior, their hopes were ended in the first knockout round, as Mika Nuutinen’s men were defeated 3-0 on aggregate by Lech Poznan.
With both sides dominant domestically and having similar Conference League exploits, Rovers go into Thursday night’s tie as very slight favourites, hoping to improve upon their Europa League qualification exit that saw 10-man Ergatia win out 5-1 at home.
Manager Bradley described that defeat as ‘the worst performance I’ve seen from us’, one followed up by a FAI Cup defeat to St Patrick’s Athletic.
With over €3m on the line should his side progress, Bradley isn’t getting too hung up on their domestic cup exit.
“These players went to the well on Sunday and that’s all you can ask for. You don’t do what they’ve done - and continue to do - in terms of raising the standards and the bar and being successful. You don’t do that unless you’re vulnerable.
“And when you’re vulnerable, at times you’re going to lose. We lost on Sunday.”
Meanwhile, Larne are in Gibraltar to face Lincoln Red Imps on Thursday evening, with the hosts marginal bookmakers’ favourites.
The latter’s most famous European day is now over a decade ago, as a 1-0 win over Celtic in 2016 later dubbed ‘The Shock of Gibraltar’ against a side who had won six Scottish Premierships titles in succession.
The Red Imps were knocked out of the group stage of the Conference League last season, though they did record an upset in beating Lech Poznan 2-1 on matchday two.
