Graham Burke should start Shamrock Rovers' Champions League match at Breidablik tonight if the Hoops are to mount a second-leg comeback, according to former St Patrick's Athletic and Shelbourne midfielder Conan Byrne.
The Hoops lost the opening leg of their first round qualifier 1-0 at Tallaght Stadium last Tuesday. Burke was introduced in the second half and helped spark an improved performance in the closing stages after what had been an insipid first-half display.
Stephen Bradley's side face a difficult task to overturn the deficit against a Breidablik team who impressed on and off the ball last week.
But speaking on the RTÉ Soccer Podcast alongside ex-Ireland international Keith Treacy as they reviewed the different challenges facing the League of Ireland's European quartet across this week, Byrne said Burke's inclusion from the start at the Kopavogsvollur could give Rovers more impetus in forward areas.
"They need to be compact, they need to be strong defensively which they weren't in the first half last week," he said.
"I'd love to see Graham Burke starting the game because he will create those little passages that players will play into.
"He gets into great positions and he's brilliant on the half-turn as well so he can get at the Breidablik defenders really, really quickly. I do think they shouldn't go gung-ho, obviously, they're only 1-0 down."
Treacy was less optimistic about Shamrock Rovers' hopes of a turnaround given how impressive Breidablik were at Tallaght.
But he holds out more hope for the Irish trio in the Europa Conference League first round with St Patrick's Athletic trailing Luxembourg's Dudelange 2-1 ahead of a return fixture at Richmond Park, whilst Dundalk and Derry City drew 0-0 in their away legs at Bruno's Magpies of Gibraltar and Faroe Island's HB Torshavn respectively.
"I expect Pat's to be an awful lot better. I do think it's still in the balance," he said.
"Pat's, at times, kept forcing the play and were inviting a bit of pressure on to themselves.
"If Mark Doyle doesn't get that late goal, it's a really poor performance and a really poor result. But as it stands, I think it's a really poor performance but a half-decent result and that one goal for Mark Doyle has a really different feeling in the Pat's heads.
"It's already a sell-out in Inchicore, it will be bouncing and I'm sure everybody will get behind them and give them every chance.
"Dudelange are still in their pre-season so hopefully they won't be 100% and (Pat's) can put them under the cosh."
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