St Patrick's Athletic may be heavy underdogs in the second leg of their UEFA Conference League play-off against Istanbul Basaksehir but last week's first-leg result as well as their pace and a more settled back four will offer them hope, according to Graham Gartland.
On Wednesday, the Saints will be aiming to become just the third League of Ireland club to reach the group stages of a European competition.
Shamrock Rovers have done so three times, first in the Europa League during the 2011-12 season before reaching the Conference League two seasons ago and guaranteeing a spot once again for this year's campaign.
Dundalk have also had their European adventures, most recently in the midst of Filippo Giovagnoli's brief time in charge back in 2020-21, following on from the Lilywhites' maiden appearance in the 2016-17 Europa League during Stephen Kenny's trophy-laden tenure.
The former Republic of Ireland manager has form for guiding club's through the rungs of a European qualifying campaign and after drawing 0-0 against Basaksehir with a gutsy performance in last Thursday's Conference League play-off round first leg at Tallaght Stadium, his St Pat's side go to the Turkish capital on Wednesday evening to face a club that has amassed plenty of continental experience on top of winning a domestic league just over four years ago.
However, even if the odds seem to be against Pat's, there are a few factors that give the Dublin outfit at least a puncher's chance against heavyweight opposition, according to former League of Ireland-winning defender Gartland, who pinpointed the Saints' ability to eat up the ground on the break as an asset.
"The pace they have in the frontline with (Zach) Elbouzedi, Jake Mulraney and Mason Melia will get you up the pitch," he told the RTÉ Soccer Podcast.
Listen to the RTÉ Soccer podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts with Gartland and David McMillan previewing St Pat's second leg:
"So if you are sitting deep and Istanbul had a lot of possession but (St Pat's) held their shape well and knew that they had a threat going forward.
"Romal Palmer has been excellent for them for the last month, so they would have been disappointed losing him (to injury) but Kian Leavy is a ball-carrier and if he plays off the front - and we saw it in the cup final - he will drive at teams and carry the ball."
Melia, still only 16, was a thorn in Basaksehir's side at times in the first leg and having seen the young forward show his promise when he was just 14 for St Joseph's Boys, Gartland feels the Ireland youth international is handling the physicality of the adult game with aplomb.
"He will take the game to people," he said.
"His physicality has improved because he's playing men's football the last six months."
However, the Inchicore side will be forewarned that the second leg at the Basaksehir Fatih Terim Stadium will be a very different proposition to the first especially as the home side are getting more match sharp by the game.
"Look, going over there is going to be a really tough task and it's a different atmosphere," said Gartland.
"You can play a team (at home) and think, 'Yeah, we're okay here', and then you go over and all of a sudden you're thinking this is a completely different team.
"The tempo changes, the whole atmosphere around changes. But the one thing that Tony (O'Donoghue) touched on (with Stephen Kenny) was the consistency of their line-up.
"The back four is a little bit more settled, their goalkeeper is more settled, (Axel) Sjoberg has come in at right-back and has done really well - they've struggled since (Sam) Curtis left - Tom Grivosti has come in and been a mainstay beside (Joe) Redmond where Redmond was struggling for a partner since the middle of last summer. So they've got consistency in their back-line which helps as well."
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