Keith Treacy: UEFA Conference League should hold no fear for Shamrock Rovers

Shamrock Rovers players should feel little trepidation as their UEFA Conference League campaign begins in earnest with a tough League Phase opener against Cypriot champions APOEL on Thursday, according to former Republic of Ireland international Keith Treacy.

Qualification for the competition proper - just the fifth time a League of Ireland club will tackle a group stage or the new League Phase in Europe - means six lucrative fixtures.

That starts with APOEL at Tallaght Stadium, before further matches against Northern Irish champions Larne (A), Welsh side TNS (H), Austria's Rapid Vienna (A), Bosnia's Borac (H) and a high-profile trip to face Chelsea at Stamford Bridge all between now and Christmas.

Most of APOEL's squad have vast experience, including at international level, but if Rovers can come away from Thursday with a point, Treacy believes it will give a Hoops' side with its own muscle memory of a recent European group campaign plenty of impetus with winnable games to come in the new format that moves away from three opponents home and away.

"I think Shamrock Rovers and Stephen Bradley will be thinking 'let's just go for it because we're here now, we might take a hiding against Chelsea but that's going to be at the end of the campaign,''" he told the RTÉ Soccer Podcast.

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With potentially nine or ten points being enough to make it among the 24 teams that progress to the play-off