Shamrock Rovers manager Stephen Bradley has his sights set firmly on the group stage of European competition this season, as his side prepare to take on Celje in their Europa League third round qualifier.
Rovers are in Slovenia for the first leg of their tie, and having come down from the Champions League qualifiers, have a safety net of Conference League play-off show Celje get the better of them.
A win over the Slovenian champions would guarantee group stage football for the Hoops, be that in the Europa League of the Conference, with a further play-off deciding where they go.
Group football in Europe offers a huge financial boost for League of Ireland clubs and for Bradley, it's where Rovers need to be.
"For any club in Europe, and we’re no different, European football is where you want to be," he said. "You want to be in group stages and that's our aim.
"We know it's difficult, but that’s aim and it’s important [for the club] both on the pitch and off the pitch."
Bradley is aware of the threat that Celje will offer and just how dangerous they can be in front of goal.
The Slovenians have already played two rounds in the Champions League qualifiers, beating Estonian side Flora 7-1 on aggregate in the first round of the qualifiers before Slovan Bratislava beat them 6-1 aggregate in the second round.
That result against Bratislava was more lop-sided than Celje perhaps deserved after they drew 1-1 in the first leg, only to lose the second leg 5-0 when Damjan Vuklisevic was sent-off after 15 minutes.
"They're very good going forward," Bradley said. "I think you just got to look at how they score so many goals in transition.
"We know they're a team that have internationals, they have quality players in the final third, so like always at a European level, you're playing against a team that are really clinical in the final third.
"They have high level players you just have to seen their game against Slovan Bratislava and in that first leg they should have been 3-0 up, I think they had two disallowed goals for offside and one cleared off the line. You look at the game in Slovakia, they were controlling the game right up until the sending off."
For Bradley, managing the game will be key and he’s confident that the experience Rovers have of playing in Europe will stand to them in Slovenia.
"You obviously need experience in games like this where at times you're going to have to manage the game, you need your experience, you need your 'know how’.
"As a group, we’ve picked up a lot of that along the way. We picked it up from good experiences and bad experiences, but you pick up that know how along the way and we've got that.
"We're definitely going to need it tomorrow night at different parts of the game.
"We know we’re playing a high-level team, but that's to be expected at this level. It's going to be difficult, but I think we're in a good place
"You have to adjust to them and give them the respect they deserve. You learn that as you go and I think we've been good at that. At times you get done by a bit of quality and that's high-level football, that's what happens. But I think we've learned how we're meant to manage games."
Rovers have a near full-strength squad to select from with Graham Burke back to full fitness and scoring. Johnny Kenny is the main notable absentee, but Sean Hoare is back in the reckoning after shaking off a knock.
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