Keith Treacy: Hope for Hoops to throw a punch or two in UEFA Conference League

While much of the spotlight is on December's trip to Chelsea, former Republic of Ireland winger Keith Treacy feels there are opportunities elsewhere for Shamrock Rovers to try and progress from the League Phase of the UEFA Conference League.

Stephen Bradley's side booked their place in the lucrative opening section of UEFA's third tier club competition for this season which, like the Champions League and Europa League, has moved away from the two-legged group stage format and towards a single 'League Phase'.

The fixture draw was made last week and saw a trip to Stamford Bridge to take on Premier League giants Chelsea on 19 December confirmed as the glamour tie among the six opponents they will face.

The reigning SSE Airtricity Men's Premier Division champions will also take on Cypriot outfit APOEL, Welsh side The New Saints and Borac of Bosnia at Tallaght Stadium, while the other away trips will be to Rapid Vienna and Larne, the first Northern Irish side to qualify for a European competition proper, who will play their home games at Belfast's Windsor Park.

With all 36 clubs in the Conference League playing in one league, the top eight will get a bye to the last-16, while ninth to 24th will advance to the first knockout-round.

Shamrock Rovers' task therefore will be to try and avoid being among the 12-worst sides who exit after completion of the League Phase and looking at the fixtures on this week's RTÉ Soccer Podcast, Treacy believes there are opportunities for the Hoops to accumulate the points that could be enough to put them into the top-24.

Listen to the RTÉ Soccer podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

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