LoI in Europe 2024

[Philosophizer]

3 now. Lovely ball from Farrugia and Kenny finishes with a sumptuous little chip. Remarkable from Rovers again.

[rebelmusic]

Kenny's stock is going up by the hundreds of thousands by the hour. 3rd goal was impeccable

[Acornvilla]

May be the 3rd tier competition but this has to be the best ever European season by an Irish team now, really incredible what they've done. The draw was relatively kind, but they have absolutely maximized what was possible.

[CorribsideSteve]

Amazing stuff from Rovers. Let this be the real start of LOI clubs making their mark in Europe. The Conference is made for LOI clubs and finishing 4th or better in the League has never been more important or relevant.

[rebelmusic]

Amazing performance.

Good chance that Chelsea will rest players next week as well so I might be talking crazy but with Rovers' defence a draw isn't inconceivable.Top 8 finish still on the cards...albeit a little aspirational.

[Acornvilla]

Amazing performance.

Good chance that Chelsea will rest players next week as well so I might be talking crazy but with Rovers' defense a draw isn't inconceivable.Top 8 finish still on the cards...albeit a little aspirational.
Chelsea more or less have a 2nd string that play every European game, very young and raw, but they're good, they won't rotate that bunch as they need the game time and experience, they'll be good, with a couple of 1st teamers who need minutes. Will be a great experience for Rovers and fun to see how they cope. They can technically finish top 8 with a loss, so goal difference could be key.

[ger121]

That was clinical.

[rebelmusic]

Chelsea more or less have a 2nd string that play every European game, very young and raw, but they're good, they won't rotate that bunch as they need the game time and experience, they'll be good, with a couple of 1st teamers who need minutes.

Well blast, thanks for the info though!

[TonyD]

So assum8ng Rovers lose to Chelsea next week, how are they fixed ? Would that leave them out of the p8 and in a play off ?

[Nesta99]

If Irish teams were to generally beat those they are ranked ahead of and seeded against, put in a good show against similar clubs, no calamity moment undoing 89mins of good work we'd all be pretty happy with that. Rovers have actually gone and done that in this group stage, the players deserve credit for not having mental lapses and the club deserves credit for getting the players to that place. It is remarkable in the sense of people saying 2 wins and a nick a result and just get through, based on scars past, but underestimating the ability of this squad to perform after a mediocre domestic season which to have kicked on from that disappointment is good stuff. Its also remarkable that nobody is talking about how the money earned could mean rovers dominating the league for years, deep pockets elsewhere are a counter to what would have been seen as the pot of gold of all time for a LoI club. For a single club to bank €5-6mil and for the league to still be considered competativehightlights that we're in or getting to a damn good place albeit with some old perspectives.

[culloty82]

The ninth team (APOEL) are only one point behind Rovers, so if they lose, it's highly unlikely they'd make the top 8, but of course with Chelsea already assured of an automatic place, they'll likely field a reserve team.

[legendz]

Absolutely fantastic from Shamrock Rovers!
Chelsea will be tough despite resting their first team. Ideal scenario is that they are distracted by a hectic Christmas schedule and Rovers can claim a very unlikely draw. Regardless, it has been a fantastic run by Shamrock Rovers to be unbeaten after 5 games.

[culloty82]

Moreover, they're now guaranteed a seeding in the playoffs, as either Rapid or Copenhagen could overtake them, but not both.

[Nesta99]

Rovers goals tonight keeping Vikingur ahead of Borac too. Vikungur gettin 7 points is decent considering how level that earlier round tie became.

[holidaysong]

With how the draw for the playoff round works, even narrowly missing out and finishing 9th or 10th would be favourable in getting a team that came 23rd or 24th in the table. Although they could still be very unlucky and get an underperforming 'bigger' club ending up in those positions ; currently it's Hearts and Ba?ak?ehir for example.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024%E2%80%9325_UEFA_Conference_League#Knockout_ph ase_play-offs

[A N Mouse]

With how the draw for the playoff round works, even narrowly missing out and finishing 9th or 10th would be favourable in getting a team that came 23rd or 24th in the table. Although they could still be very unlucky and get an underperforming 'bigger' club ending up in those positions ; currently it's Hearts and Ba?ak?ehir for example.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024%E2%80%9325_UEFA_Conference_League#Knockout_ph ase_play-offs

Think there 10 teams could pass them. Kobenhaven could on goal difference if Chelsea win by at least 3 and they beat rapid. Because of fixtures worst case finish is 14th. Only three of the ten teams final fixture is against a team outside top 24, and only gent against Larne would be a gimme. 12th place seems like a solid shout, if Chelsea win.

I don't know what kind of team Chelsea put out today, but they had something like 12 academy players in travelling squad. But that's cos going to other end of 'europe' and match on Sunday.

[dundalkfc10]

Think there 10 teams could pass them. Kobenhaven could on goal difference if Chelsea win by at least 3 and they beat rapid. Because of fixtures worst case finish is 14th. Only three of the ten teams final fixture is against a team outside top 24, and only gent against Larne would be a gimme. 12th place seems like a solid shout, if Chelsea win.

I don't know what kind of team Chelsea put out today, but they had something like 12 academy players in travelling squad. But that's cos going to other end of 'europe' and match on Sunday.

Chelsea started 2 or 3 kids but there starting 11 today cost over £200million

[pineapple stu]

This is one of those alternative universes people keep taking about, yeah?

Like, much and all as it's the easiest group stage draw an LoI side ever got, i don't think anyone was expecting Rovers to be unbeaten after five matches.

The Chelsea game is irrelevant

And it's fun

[placid casual]

It's always the same sometimes.:)

[Acornvilla]

It's a real pity none of this has been on free to air TV so that most people could follow along, the one year Virgin don't have the rights and an Irish team goes on a run. I assume with the new LOITV deal/situation if Premier Sports keep picking up the rights they would incorporate group stages there somehow? An extra charge as usual I'm sure, I just don't want to have to be getting a premier sports sub to watch my football. I pay for LOITV every year because I want it to be a success, but I feel like I am not a wealthy enough man to have all the subs necessary to partake in society

[placid casual]

Irish society has a tendency to only do things once they're informed by someone from outside Ireland that they're good enough to do it.
Separately RTE looks like a bit of a binfire of an organization at present, and Virgin media are up in arms that they're not getting the same preferential treatment from the Irish government, but let's be honest Virgin media are just an annex of an english TV company.

[Straightstory]

Was at five of Rovers home European games and thoroughly enjoyed them. They've really come on since the Apoel game, where they were very lucky to escape with a draw. But they were magnificent last night - and played some very nice football along the way. Fair play to Bradley - he's delivered the goods. Hope Rovers fans have fun in London next week.

[pateen]

Kenny's stock is going up by the hundreds of thousands by the hour. 3rd goal was impeccable

I say he'll be there next season, albeit on a higher price. Not quite the finished product for Celtic yet.

[Kingswood Rover]

hopefully but my Celtic pals sources saying he is getting 2 weeks off after Chelsea and has to report back to Lennoxtown for Training on Jan 10th.:mad:

[pateen]

Interesting, he's done well on fairness and with the u21s as well.

People knocking him like mad earlier in the season

[Nah Nah Nah Nah]

He said himself after the game last night he was going back. Not to say they won’t like the look of him after a month and loan him back out again.

[oriel]

Brilliant from Shamrock Rovers and Johnny Kenny been superb again tonight.

Yep, can't argue with any of that, they were on fire ! Some result.

[yurt]

Ireland are up to 31st in the overall table now after Rovers earned bonus points by qualifying.

Given the huge amount of points were going to have from this season for the next 5 years you'd hope we can build on it and cement our place in he Europa league qualifying.

[Nesta99]

FAI targets 20th place for LoI, annual crowds to surpass 1m, wider progress and improvement on infrastructure, clubs qualifying for groups stages semi regularly - genius of a job they are doing!

Really we all know that the stars have just aligned somehow but we do need them to milk it for everything they can. There needs to be a broader spread of clubs picking up coefficient points when they qualify for Europe. While Rovers run this year is exceptional, there have been indicidual decent runs in the past. It was always a but deressing to see LoI close on leagues above only to see that they still have 3 or 4 teams in Europe and we have a solo effort so we only close the game of climb the rankings for a matter of weeks, The next stage of LoI development will be more than 1 side in group stages and other sides progressing minimum 1 round every year and prferably more obviously. So where can we get to in another 5 years cosidering we are probably ahead of FAI targets?

[legendz]

Kosovo were 33rd in the 24/25 UEFA access list. Ballkani did the league and cup double. League runners up Llapi entered the Europa League. They lost 4-1 (agg.) to Wis?a Kraków in Q1.
When they dropped into the Conference league, they were unseeded alongside Pat's in Group 7. Llapi lost 8-2 (agg.) to Brøndby while Pat's beat Vaduz 5-3 (agg.).
The Conference League safety net is no guarantee of an easy route. Pat's did very well to get to the playoffs during the summer. Difficult to do without any safety nets.

[placid casual]

Yeah completely agree.
Even at this stage I wouldn't necessarily fancy Rovers chances of getting into the conference league group stages next year,even though they'd be seeded all the way ( I think).
The beauty of winning the league is the 3 bites at the cherry routine that makes it far easier than negotiating multiple trips around far flung regions of "Europe" just to get back into the league stages

[yurt]

Kosovo were 33rd in the 24/25 UEFA access list. Ballkani did the league and cup double. League runners up Llapi entered the Europa League. They lost 4-1 (agg.) to Wis?a Kraków in Q1.
When they dropped into the Conference league, they were unseeded alongside Pat's in Group 7. Llapi lost 8-2 (agg.) to Brøndby while Pat's beat Vaduz 5-3 (agg.).
The Conference League safety net is no guarantee of an easy route. Pat's did very well to get to the playoffs during the summer. Difficult to do without any safety nets.

Certainly wouldn't make the route to group stage football any easier but it would improve the actual fixtures Irish teams get to play in.

Instead of a winnable tie against sides from Gibraltar, Finland, Georgia, etc they'd play a tough tie against a side from a Poland, Sweden or Hungary. As we've seen with Derry this year there are no guarantees that things will go your way anyway so having the safety net will definitely benefit whoever goes that route in 2026.

[sbgawa]

The latest sims on the Conference league have us finishing 12th and in a playoff with our old friends Vikingur for a place in the last 16..
12th place would give is a bonus point and a half coefficient wise which would have us at 17.5 before the two games against Vikingur (appreciate its a sim only so anythng is possible).
the Run to here that has us seeded for the playoff gives us a great chance of picking up another couple of co efficient points but even 17.5 should have us seeded all the way in the Conference league next year.
Still a massive ask to win 4 rounds in a row and avoid potential landmines.

Edit: i was wrong here, beating Vikingur (or whomever) in the playoff round doesnt get you 2 points for a win in either match, you get 1.5 points for getting to the last 16.

[2 Year Contract]

Does anyone have the euro qualification dates for 2025-26 handy? Pretty sure they’re usually available at this time of year but I can’t seem to find next seasons stuff on Bert’s website

[pineapple stu]

It's on Bert Kassies' site here (https://kassiesa.net/uefa/calendar2025.html).

[pateen]

Hey folks, back here looking for a way to search for a link for Thursdays game.
What key words should I use?

Back in the day it was cric free but Google seems to ve clever where the sites are now much harder to find.

Any tips at all will be much appreciated.

[dundalkfc10]

Hey folks, back here looking for a way to search for a link for Thursdays game.
What key words should I use?

Back in the day it was cric free but Google seems to ve clever where the sites are now much harder to find.

Any tips at all will be much appreciated.

I would have thought them sites were done away with now, especially with IPTV available everywhere for as little as €50 for a years pass

If you have an Android device or a firestick, throw in IPTV to Twitter/X the day of the game. Most of the sellers will offer you a 12 or 24 hour free trial

[pateen]

Thanks DD
If anyone else has any suggestions I'd love to hear them.

[placid casual]

Buffstreams can be hit or miss but give that a go

[Straightstory]

Does anyone know if Drogheda are in the first or second qualifying round of the Conference League? I thought I'd heard they'd been given a bye to the second round, but the club seems to have re-arranged League games here to make room for the first round dates.

[joey B]

Does anyone know if Drogheda are in the first or second qualifying round of the Conference League? I thought I'd heard they'd been given a bye to the second round, but the club seems to have re-arranged League games here to make room for the first round dates.

They’re in the second round as far as I know…

[2 Year Contract]

Does anyone know if Drogheda are in the first or second qualifying round of the Conference League? I thought I'd heard they'd been given a bye to the second round, but the club seems to have re-arranged League games here to make room for the first round dates.

They’re in the second round, same round Pats started in 2024 as cup holders. It’s the league that sets/moves those games. Same thing happened to Pats last year, had league games brought forward for the weeks of the first round 1st/2nd legs resulting in a few weeks in the summer without a game for no reason as they started in the second round instead of the first

[pateen]

Buffstreams can be hit or miss but give that a go

Lovely PC, let me give it a lash

[Stuttgart88]

Any Rovers fans here going to Chelsea tomorrow? I could only get Chelsea tickets but am wondering if there are any plans for pubs etc. I'm taking my son and an Irish colleague.

[Knocklyonhoop]

Any Rovers fans here going to Chelsea tomorrow? I could only get Chelsea tickets but am wondering if there are any plans for pubs etc. I'm taking my son and an Irish colleague.

wetherspoons, Putney Bridge is one.

[WeAreRovers]

Yeah, Putney Bridge area in general.

[Stuttgart88]

Thanks both

[Straightstory]

They’re in the second round, same round Pats started in 2024 as cup holders. It’s the league that sets/moves those games. Same thing happened to Pats last year, had league games brought forward for the weeks of the first round 1st/2nd legs resulting in a few weeks in the summer without a game for no reason as they started in the second round instead of the first
Thanks for the info. (Somebody should tell the club... )

[pateen]

Head to the Irish pub The Hop pole on Putney Bridge road. Ower is sound, has a serious dislike for Chelsea ... naturally.
Very friendly Irish locals there. Won't be busy either

[pateen]

Again just back looking to know if anyone has a live stream