Thursday 10 July
UEFA Conference League - First Round Qualifying
FC Bruno's Magpies (Gibraltar) v Derry City - Europa Point Stadium, 5pm
Shelbourne v St Jospeh's (Gibraltar), Tolka Park, 7.45pm
Weather
Dublin: Dry but cloudy in Dublin, with evening highs of 16 degrees. Feeling cooler in a northerly breeze.
Gibraltar: A culture shock for fans heading to Derry's away leg with temperatures set to be around 30 degrees at kick-off time, with uninterrupted sunshine.
Three Irish clubs will be involved in the qualifying stages of the UEFA Conference League this season, with St Patrick's Athletic placed in the second round after their FAI Cup win last November.
So it's 2023 SSE Airtricity League runners-up Derry City and current league leaders Shelbourne who will begin a journey that could potentially take them to the Stadion Wroclaw next May.
New Conference League format
One thing to note about this season's edition is that fewer teams will take part - 168 versus 178 last season - while the tournament proper will feature 36 teams, four up on the 32 who were involved last time out.
Rather than the eight groups of four that we had in 2023/2024, this season will see teams playing three home and away games, but against six different clubs. The top eight will to the last 16, with the next 16 ranked teams going into a two-legged play-off to secure their path to the last 16 of the competition.
There's a long way to go before all of that though, but let's hope there's at least one Irish club that will be heading into the slightly convoluted format come the autumn.
Back to this evening, and there's a Gibraltarian flavour to the Irish interest, with Derry and Shels both facing sides from the British Overseas Territory on the southern tip of Spain, either side of the Euro 2024 final between England and La Roja in Berlin.
Derry trying to take down the rock
The Candystripes make the journey this week, where they'll face FC Bruno's Magpies at the Europa Point Stadium. They managed to advance through two qualifying rounds last year and they'll know they're capable of doing something similar this time around.
Magpies are just 11 years old and finished third in last season's Gibraltar Football League, 10 points behind champions Lincoln Red Imps.
They don't exactly have a squad of household names but Ash Taylor has joined their ranks. The Welsh defender was playing with Bradford City in EFL League Two last season, and he's also played over 150 games in the Scottish top flight across spells with Kilmarnock and Aberdeen.
Goalkeeper Dayle Coleing made over 30 appearances for Glentoran in the Irish League, while he was between the sticks for the Gibraltarian national side in Euro 2024 qualifier defeats to Ireland. For the record, Evan Ferguson and Mikey Johnston scored in both games against him, accounting for four of the seven goals he conceded.
This will be Magpies' third European campaign, with them coincidentally having only played clubs from the island of Ireland previously.
Two seasons ago they beat Crusaders in the first leg on the rock, only to lose 3-1 in Belfast. They held Dundalk at home last season, before also losing 3-1 at Oriel Park.
Denmark's FC Copenhagen await the winners of this tie in the next round.
Shelbourne return to Europe
18 years after their last European campaign, Shelbourne are back where they want to be. They'll welcome St Jospeh's to Tolka Park later looking to take their league form - three points clear at the top with 12 games to play - into continental competition.
Even a defeat in this tie would give them €250,000, far bigger than the prize on offer by winning the League of Ireland, so the financial boon from Europe is massive. Progress in this two-legged tie would be worth an additional €300,000 to the club, a figure that speaks for itself.
Joseph's finished second in their domestic league last year, one spot ahead of FC Bruno's Magpies, and just two off the champions Lincoln Red Imps.
One of their star players is defender Jayce Olivero who has 58 caps for Gibraltar. Like Magpies' keeper Coleing, he started both Euro 2024 qualifiers against Ireland last year.
This is Joseph's second meeting with a club from Ireland, having knocked out Larne at this stage two years ago, winning at 1-0 Inver Park after holding the Irish League side scoreless at home. Shels have never faced Gibraltarian opposition before.
Duffer in Europe
While the Conference League didn't exist in his playing days, Damien Duff made 68 club appearances in European competition, playing for Blackburn Rovers, Chelsea, Newcastle and Fulham.
The undoubted highlight was helping the lowly Cottagers to reach the Europa League final in 2010, playing over 80 minutes in the final as the Londoners eventually lost out to Atletico Madrid 2-1 after extra-time in Hamburg.
"It's been very difficult, hard this week trying to get footage," he said of this evening's opponents on Shelbourne's X account.
"I was pulling games off YouTube, which can be difficult in itself. It's not healthy for your computer when you're trying to download stuff off YouTube.
"We've painted, I'd like to think, a decent enough picture - hopefully an accurate enough picture - but we really don't know.
"[We] won't disrespect the opposition, no matter what country or league they play in. It's a tough game."
The winner of this tie will meet FC Zurich, of Switzerland, in the second qualifying round.
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