Pots confirmed as Irish sides await European draws

League of Ireland sides will learn their fate in European qualifying draws on Tuesday, with potential opposition now narrowed down by UEFA.

Four Irish sides will enter competitions this year, all dreaming of lucrative rewards and possible group stage qualification.

Shamrock Rovers will compete in the Champions League, while St Patrick’s Athletic, Shelbourne and Derry City will be in the Conference League.

Pat’s are the only Irish side which will not feature in Tuesday’s draw as they enter at the second round stage thanks to being the 2023 FAI Cup winner.

Shamrock Rovers are seeded, as they were last season, and will be determined to take advantage after the earliest possible exit last season.

Derry City will also be seeded in the first round, benefitting from their good performance in last year’s competition.

Champions League – Shamrock Rovers

It’s no coincidence that the league winner is the most likely side to enjoy a sustained run in Europe.

The Hoops are on UEFA’s ‘champions’ route and are guaranteed a second chance if they were to lose their first round tie.

Having won their opening game in 2022, they exited in the next round but then dropped to the Europa League third round play-off.

They won that tie to guarantee Conference League group stage which they went on to feature in after missing out on the Europa.

It seems complex – the easy way to say it is one victory will put them on the brink of qualifying.

Group stage football will be the ultimate aim this year after missing out in 2023.

After this morning’s pot were decided, the five sides they can meet are:

• NK Celje (Slovenia)
• Larne (Northern Ireland)
• FK Paneveys (Lithuania)
• Vikingur Reykjavik (Iceland)
• FC Differdange (Luxembourg)

The potential all-Irish tie is likely to appeal to Shamrock Rovers.

League champions Larne were narrowly beaten by HJK Helsinki at this stage last year. A local tie would allow the Hoops to avoid a long journey as they seek to keep their focus on the league as well.

The most difficult draw would be Celje. They knocked out Dundalk in 2020 and reached the play-off round last year.

That would certaintly be the nightmare pairing.

All other ties would likely have the Premier Division champions as favourites.

A two-legged tie will be played on 9/10 July & 16/17 July. All will be revealed in the draw on Tuesday at 1pm.

Europa Conference League – Derry City, Shelbourne and St Patrick’s Athletic

The three Irish sides do not enter the Europa League due to the lowly ranking of the league in UEFA’s co-efficients.

However, the Conference League has proven a big success and more favourable for teams in the Premier Division, with several progressing to the third round in recent seasons.

Indeed Derry City were beaten on penalites by Tobol last year to just miss out on the play-off round.

St Patrick’s Athletic have an extra 24 hours to wait to find out their second-round opponent with the draw scheduled for Wednesday.

Derry and Shelbourne will both be in the first round draw.

The Reds are back in Europe after 18 years away after their transformation under Damien Duff.

Derry City’s possible opponents:

• Bala Town FC (Wales)
• Víkingur (Faroe Islands)
• Stjarnan (Iceland)
• VPS Vaasa (Finland)
• Bruno’s Magpies (Gibraltar)

As always with the European competitions, luck of the draw will have a big say.

Some of the sides are familiar opposition. Sligo Rovers overcame Bala Town two years ago, despite some scares in the second leg, while Dundalk breezed past Bruno’s of Gibraltar last season.

Stjarnan of Iceland were defeated 4-1 over two legs by Bohemians in 2021.

Derry would fancy their chance against those those sides certaintly.

Víkingur and VPS of Finland may represent tougher tests, with the side from the Faroe Islands enjoying some decent wins in recent years.

Shelbourne’s possible opponents:

• Breidablik (Iceland)
• F91 Diddeleng (Luxembourg)
• SP Tre Penne (San Marino)
• St Joseph’s FC (Gibraltar)
• Crusaders FC (Northern Ireland)

The pot calibrating brings in two sides which conquered League of Ireland teams last year.

F91 Diddeleng knocked out St Patrick’s Athletic after an epic second leg battle in Richmond Park.

Breidablik got the better of Shamrock Rovers in the Champions League.

There is another potential Northern Irish clash against Crusaders, while teams from San Marino and Gibraltar would be more than acceptable.

Shels will be paired with one of those five sides.

St Patrick’s Athletic’s possible opponents

The Saints will learn their possible opponents on Wednesday morning ahead of the draw for the second round later that day.

While that is good news, they will begin with a tough tie when their possible foes emerge.

What can they get financially

Shamrock Rovers banked over €3.3 million in prize money when reaching the Conference League group stage in 2022.

But last year’s failure in the Champions League second round and subsequent Conference League second round tie led to a drop of almost €2.5m. The impact of European results on budget in the league remains sizeable.

Elsewhere first round success for Derry or Shelbourne would net them over €550,000 and second round victory a further €300,000.

Exiting in the first round would restrict them to €250,000.

St Pat’s are already guaranteed €550,000 by entering at the second round.

The draw takes place on Tuesday afternoon followed by the second rounds on Wednesday.

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