Sean Gannon is adamant that Shamrock Rovers have not yet thrown in the towel in this year's attempt to progress towards the Champions League group stages as they host Ludogorets at Tallaght Stadium tonight.
The Hoops defender is under no illusion regarding the size of the task ahead as the Dublin club come into the game 3-0 down on aggregate following the first leg in Bulgaria last week.
However, Gannon believes that the quality and talent within the squad is sufficient to bring real belief into tonight’s game and the back-to-back league champions are aiming to, at least, win the tie in front of their passionate supporters.
"There is still a game to be played," said Gannon, speaking to RTÉ Sport. "It’s not over until it’s over, and that’s the way we are approaching the game.
"We’re going [to try] to win this game and see where it takes us.
"We’re under no illusions, it’s a big ask but we’re a very talented group here and we believe that we belong at that level so it’s a game that we are going to try to win."
Gannon also feels that the team can draw on a lot of positives from the first leg, and while the third goal was a disappointing way to end the game, he feels that it is something that the entire squad can learn from.
"We take a lot of positives from our second half performance last week. In the first half, they were very good and they got ahead, but I think how we responded in the second half was really good.
"The third goal, it’s more of a learning curve for everybody here as a group, we have looked at it and we can learn from it.
"We are behind in the tie, but the aim is no different, we’ll be going to win the game.
"Ludogorets are a brilliant team but we’re at home in front of a huge crowd in Tallaght so it’s up to us to go and attack the game."
Should Rovers fail to progress, Bradley’s side will move into the Europa League and Gannon believes that the squad are capable of replicating the team of 2011 by reaching the group stages of the Europa League.
Stephen Bradley’s side would find themselves just two wins away from reaching the lucrative group stages and Gannon, who also played Europa League group stage football with Dundalk in 2016 and is now approaching 50 European fixtures, believes that it is an achievable goal.
"It’s something that we are aiming for here and I think we are well set up here to go and compete in a group stage.
"I believe we have a group that is well capable of playing in the group [stages]."
