"So if you are sitting deep and Istanbul had a lot of possession but (St Pat's) held their shape well and knew that they had a threat going forward.
"Romal Palmer has been excellent for them for the last month, so they would have been disappointed losing him (to injury) but Kian Leavy is a ball-carrier and if he plays off the front - and we saw it in the cup final - he will drive at teams and carry the ball."
Melia, still only 16, was a thorn in Basaksehir's side at times in the first leg and having seen the young forward show his promise when he was just 14 for St Joseph's Boys, Gartland feels the Ireland youth international is handling the physicality of the adult game with aplomb.
"He will take the game to people," he said.
"His physicality has improved because he's playing men's football the last six months."
However, the Inchicore side will be forewarned that the second leg at the Basaksehir Fatih Terim Stadium will be a very different proposition to the first especially as the home side are getting more match sharp by the game.
"Look, going over there is going to be a really tough task and it's a different atmosphere," said Gartland.
"You can play a team (at home) and think, 'Yeah, we're okay here', and then you go over and all of a sudden you're thinking this is a completely different team.
"The tempo changes, the whole atmosphere around changes. But the one thing that Tony (O'Donoghue) touched on (with Stephen Kenny) was the consistency of their line-up.
"The back four is a little bit more settled, their goalkeeper is more settled, (Axel) Sjoberg has come in at right-back and has done really well - they've struggled since (Sam) Curtis left - Tom Grivosti has come in and been a mainstay beside (Joe) Redmond where Redmond was struggling for a partner since the middle of last summer. So they've got consistency in their back-line which helps as well."
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