Shkupi promise revenge over 'evil' Irish airport woes

Shamrock Rovers' Europa League opponents Shkupi have released an extraordinary statement condemning the "evil" decision to prevent them from flying into Dublin, with the North Macedonian side instead heading to Shannon Airport ahead of their Tallaght Stadium showdown tonight.

Last month, Rovers had to depart from Shannon for their Champions League qualification tie against Hibernians of Malta because Dublin Airport was unable to facilitate their charter flight.

Stephen Bradley told RTÉ Sport that it did not make sense that Ludogorets were then able to fly into Dublin Airport the following week.

St Patrick's Athletic had to fly out from Knock for their Europa Conference League first-leg clash with CSKA Sofia yesterday, again due to being unable to secure a departure spot from Dublin.

RTÉ Sport understands Pat's officials were irked at being forced to journey to Mayo rather than leave from their home city.

Likewise, the Slovenian side who Pat's beat in the first round had to journey to Mayo rather than Dublin.

On Thursday, Shkupi posted a statement on their club website complaining about their own detour to the west of Ireland ahead of the Europa League third qualifying round first leg.

They have urged the North Macedonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to intervene and ensure the squad is allowed to fly home from Dublin after tonight's match.

"Our team is being interfered with by making small plays in such an unbecoming manner," the statement read.

"Despite our budget, we were trying to keep our players comfortable by hiring a charter plane and paying thousands of euros to ensure that our players could make it to the Europa League in good health, but the Irish government did not listen to UEFA, despite the intervention of UEFA,