Fearless template best route forward for Shamrock Rovers and St Pat's in second legs - Conan Byrne

If St Patrick's Athletic play their cards right on Thursday, Tallaght Stadium could be the sight of raucous celebrations for the second time in the space of a week.

Last week at their home ground, Shamrock Rovers gave their hopes of securing group stage European football a veritable boost when Gary O'Neill's late, late curler gave them a two-goal advantage over KF Shkupi before Stephen Bradley's side head to North Macedonia for Tuesday's Europa League second leg.

Win that third qualifying round tie and the Hoops not only advance to the play-off stage of the continent's second tier competition, but they will also have a group stage qualification for the third tier Europa Conference League already secured in the back pocket.

Pat's gave their own chances of reaching the play-off round of the latter competition a boost when they earned an outstanding 1-0 win away at CSKA Sofia in Bulgaria last Thursday with Joe Redmond's resoluteness symbolic of the resilience shown.

The second leg this week (live on RTÉ News Channel and RTÉ Player) will take place in Tallaght as opposed to their own Richmond Park home but according to former Saints midfielder Conan Byrne, a similar template to the victory in Bulgaria will give Tim Clancy's side a superb chance of completing a two-legged upset and continuing their European adventure.

We need your consent to load this YouTube contentWe use YouTube to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences

"The box in midfield is so important for them because you have Adam O'Reilly and now Jamie Lennon, who was brilliant the other night. He won the header from the corner to lead