Last week's European qualifier first legs were a mixed bag for the League of Ireland sides.
Shamrock Rovers dug out the type of gritty performance that former Republic of Ireland winger Keith Treacy had advocated for in their Champions League first round qualifier against Iceland's Vikingur and with the tie poised at 0-0, it's all to play for in Tallaght in the second leg tonight.
Shelbourne, meanwhile, marked an emotional return to the continental stage after almost two decades with a narrow 2-1 victory over St Joseph's that Damien Duff's side will take to Gibraltar for Thursday's Conference League return leg.
It was a different story for Derry City in the same competition on the southern tip of the Iberian peninsula as they suffered the type of 2-0 defeat to Gibraltarian side Bruno's Magpies that manager Ruaidhri Higgins described repeatedly as "unacceptable".
The Candystripes are now under pressure to turn that deficit on its head in Thursday's second leg at the Ryan McBride Brandywell Stadium.
Derry City's experience in Gibraltar and the general difficulty LOI sides endure in Champions League, Europa League or Conference League qualifying did not overly surprise former St Patrick's Athletic and Shelbourne midfielder Conan Byrne as he outlined the trends on this week's RTÉ Soccer Podcast.
"The insane thing is, I was looking back over some stats over the last number of years, we've a 25% win rate in Europe over the last three or four years," he said.
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"I think we just go out expecting, 'it's a Gibraltarian team, we should beat these', and yeah we should but at the same time we've got to remember that a lot of these players have grown up in Spanish academies and are very comfortable on the ball and possession-based.
"They're lacking fitness at the moment (in comparison to LOI sides in the summer months) so you'd expect us to dominate the ball in terms of wearing the opponents down.
"But even take Shels for example, defeating St Joseph's 2-1 with a penalty in the second half. It doesn't happen like that, an Irish side is very unlikely to go and win 3-0 or 4-0 in Europe, be it home or away.
"So I think we underestimate teams when we play them in Europe as a nation. Shamrock Rovers did it last year with Breidablik when they went to Tallaght and defeated them 1-0 very comfortably.
"And again, with Derry this season, heading over (to Gibraltar) and expecting to win against the Magpies. It just doesn't happen. It doesn't work that way.
Icelandic sports journalist Jóhann Ingi Hafþórsson who covered the first leg between Shamrock Rovers and Vikingur in Reykjavík shared his thoughts on the tie during his discussion on the Republic of Ireland's new manager Heimir Halgrimsson:
"The team that won the Gibraltar league, Lincoln Red Imps, they've won 1-0 in their first leg and have a wonderful chance of getting through to the second qualifying round of the Champions League.
"The Gibraltarian league isn't as bad as people make it out to be. They're good sides in the league and have very good players.
"They mightn't have the tactical prowess or awareness that we may have in League of Ireland but take nothing away from the players. They're good players and you're going to have to be at the top of your game to get through a round in Europe. You cannot turn up and give 90% in a game and get through. You have to give 100% and Derry City obviously didn't do that.
"But to go over and expect to win, it's the wrong attitude."
Former Dundalk striker David McMillan looked ahead to Shamrock Rovers' second leg task against Vikingur:
Watch Republic of Ireland v France in Women's Euro 2025 qualifying on Tuesday from 5.30pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player. Follow a live blog on rte.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app and listen to live commentary on 2fm's Game On
Watch Republic of Ireland v Germany in the UEFA Women's U19 Championship on Thursday from 11.50am on RTÉ News Channel and RTÉ Player
Watch Republic of Ireland v Netherlands in the UEFA Women's U19 Championship on Sunday from 11.50am on RTÉ News Channel and RTÉ Player
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