Early opportunities knock for League of Ireland's European quartet

When the draw was made for the Champions League and Europa Conference League qualifiers last month, there was a sense that the draw had been relatively kind to the four League of Ireland clubs.

Shamrock Rovers face Iceland's Breidablik in the Champions League first qualifying round, with the first leg at Tallaght Stadium live on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player on Tuesday night.

Meanwhile, Derry City, Dundalk and St Patrick's Athletic will begin their Europa Conference League first qualifying round ties later this week against HB Torshavn (Faroe Islands), Bruno's Magpies (Gibraltar) and F91 Dudelange (Luxembourg) respectively.

Former Republic of Ireland and St Pat's midfielder Keith Treacy and ex-Saints and Shelbourne manager Johnny McDonnell joined the RTÉ Soccer Podcast to look ahead to the challenges the Irish sides have ahead of them this week and in regard to Shamrock Rovers, the latter believes Stephen Bradley's side should have enough to progress towards a daunting second qualifying round tie against FC Copenhagen.

"We probably would think (Rovers) are heavy favourites. The Icelandic teams have produced some really good players. The top teams in Iceland usually do okay," McDonnell said.

"They're not far off our league as well. But I think Rovers will play the way they play and just go and try to win the game.

"But they're going through a bit of a rocky spell at the moment but I think Rovers will be too strong for (Breidablik).

"I think Gary O'Neill might be back as well and the bench that they would have, they probably have a little bit too much.

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