Europa Conference League, second round qualifier, first leg.
St Patrick’s Athletic v NS Mura (Slovenia), Richmond Park, 7.45pm
Barry Cotter brings an athletic presence to St Pat’s right flank after being loaned across town by Shamrock Rovers ahead of this Europa qualifier. The 23-year-old failed to break into the Rovers team, with Ronan Finn operating at right wing back, and zero minutes in the Champions League makes him eligible to face the Slovenian visitors.
Mura qualified for the Europa Conference group stages last season and while they lost five of six matches there was a famous 2-1 defeat of a Spurs side that included Harry Kane and Matt Doherty. That Amadej Marosa’s winner came in the 94th minute only makes for a better story.
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European football appears to have come too soon for St Pat’s. A club openly in rebuild mode, with manager Tim Clancy arriving from Drogheda United after Stephen O’Donnell’s decision to leave for Dundalk, and take several players with him, meant that the FAI Cup holders have struggled to reproduce last season’s relative consistency.
Lying fourth in the league, with 10 wins and eight defeats, last Friday’s 1-1 draw at home to Dundalk was their season in microcosm. After a brilliant, flowing goal on 16 minutes, with Chris Forrester, Eoin Doyle, Billy King and Mark Doyle in-sync, they went so deep into their shell that Dundalk had to equalise.
It will be interesting to see more of Serge Atakayi, the Congo-born Finland under-21 winger, signed as a replacement for Darragh Burns.
“They are technically very good,” said Clancy of the Slovenians. “They are quite consistent with their line-up. They’ve got some really good players. We’ve done a lot of work on them so we are hoping our lads go into the game with enough information on how they want to play.”
Another hope is that St Pat’s learn from Shamrock Rovers’ 3-0 defeat in Bulgaria this week and do not attempt to play their natural game against superior opposition.
“It’s one of those ones whereby we’d be conscious of keeping it as tight as possible and make sure we are still alive in the tie going over there for the second leg.”
Success in this regard is worth €550,000.
Motherwell v Sligo Rovers, Fir Park, 7.45pm
All eyes will be on Ross Tierney. Last winter the attacking midfielder took leave of Bohemians and Ballymun to embark on a fully professional career in Scotland. Small in stature, the Ireland under-21′s place in Dalymount folklore is already secured and while he has yet to nail down a regular place in Graham Alexander’s starting XI, tonight might be the moment this changes.
Sligo Rovers will know all about Tierney’s ability to blur the lines between midfield and attack but they are blessed to reach the second round of the Europa Conference League after needing a penalty shoot-out to see off lowly Bala Town.
From Wales to Scotland, Rovers are hardly experiencing continental football but it would be a major achievement if they scrambled into round three where the winners of Sparta Prague and Viking (Norway) will be waiting.
