Shamrock Rovers' tilt at the Europa League will almost certainly end tonight but the second leg against PAOK should at least provide a worthwhile tune-up against high-calibre opposition before they embark on another Conference League journey.
The Hoops' hopes of emulating Michael O'Neill's class of 2011 and reaching the group phase of European football's second tier competition were effectively ended by last week's 4-0 defeat in Thessaloniki.
A dramatic extra-time victory over Slovenian champions Celje in the third qualifying round had already seen the primary objective achieved though, pencilling them in for a long and lucrative autumn of European group stage football.
The Conference League group phase was always understood to be the likeliest destination, the stage which Stephen Bradley's side also reached during the competition's inaugural run in 2022.
Before that, however, they had a crack at a grander stage, with the reigning Greek Super League champions - full name Pan-Thessalonian Athletic Club of Constantinopolitans - barring the route to the Europa League group phase, in which much bigger fish would be circling.
It was known to be a tall order.
Immediately after the euphoric celebrations in Tallaght Stadium following the Celje victory - when Bradley and his jubilant players jumped the advertising hoardings and joined in the party among the South Stand hardcore - the Shamrock Rovers manager insisted their target was the Europa League group phase.
On arriving in Greece, Bradley said the plan was to keep the tie alive for the return leg in Dublin.
All was going reasonably well entering first-half injury-time, with the game still scoreless. However, a Daniel Cleary own goal in the dying seconds of the half and an opportunistic strike from Brazilian international Taison almost immediately on the re-start radically altered the shape of things.
Josh Honohan's somewhat harsh sending off on a second yellow card left Rovers in a deeper hole and the damage limitation exercise became an increasingly uphill task. Giannis Konstantelias added a third midway through the half, before Baba Rahman rounded off the victory deep in injury-time.
Starting 4-0 down, the Shamrock Rovers manager makes little pretence that the tie is still alive.
"I thought we were very, very good," Bradley told RTÉ Sport's Tony O'Donoghue on Wednesday. "We then get a man sent off (Josh Honohan) and it becomes extremely difficult against that level of opposition. They then exposed us like you would expect them to do. Can we go and win the game now?
"Winning the tie is near on impossible but we can try and win the game and that will be the aim."
There is some neat historical synchronicity in PAOK providing the opposition this time around. The Greek outfit had topped the table on the only previous occasion that Rovers had participated in the Europa League group phase in 2011-12.
PAOK were 3-1 winners in their visit to south-west Dublin that November, with current Kerry FC director Billy Dennehy scoring the only goal for the hosts.
That European campaign represented a major breakthrough for the League of Ireland, Pat Sullivan's 30-yard volley and Stephen O'Donnell's extra-time penalty sparking wild scenes of celebration in a memorable night in Belgrade.
Plonked in an intimidating group with PAOK, Rubin Kazan and Tottenham Hotspur - the latter then under the guidance of Fleet Street's favourite clubbable geezer, Harry Redknapp - Rovers failed to muster any points from six games, though the achievement was in reaching that phase at all.
Five years later, Stephen Kenny's Dundalk would break new ground, by accumulating four points and being properly competitive in the group phase itself, drawing away with AZ Alkmaar and beating Maccabi Tel Aviv to leave themselves with a realistic shot at progression to the knockouts. For a brief moment, anything seemed possible, though their form tapered off and they lost their four remaining games.
No Irish club has reached those heights since but the introduction of European football's third tier has proven a massive boon.
The Hoops reached the group stage in the first edition in 2022, procuring two points from six games in a campaign in which Bradley had controversially prioritised league form and rotated his side for a 3-0 away defeat in Molde.
This year, with no winter World Cup to work around, the tournament runs off later, with four group stage games taking place after the LOI Premier Division has concluded.
Shamrock Rovers were still in their imperious phase domestically in 2022, sauntering to a third league title by a 13-point margin, their status as Ireland's pre-eminent team looking utterly impregnable.
Last year, they emulated the fabled four-in-a-row team of the mid-1980s, but the league was won with considerably less swagger and that ran alongside a deeply underwhelming showing in Europe. Bradley said he was determined to stick around for a historic five-in-a-row tilt but pointedly said this was "up to the board" amid rumours of internal disagreement concerning squad spending.
This season has largely been a mess at home, Rovers decimated by an early summer injury-crisis. They were short of up seven first-team regulars for long stretches of April and May, during which they lost heavy ground to surprise pace-setters Shelbourne.
In spite of it all, they remain in contention in one of the most democratic league seasons for many a year - the league no one wants to win.
As it stands, they sit 10 points adrift of Shels and Derry City but they have games in hand. Damien Duff's side, in particular, seem to be losing altitude as we inch towards the business end of the season.
The champions are still tossing away points and Bradley has gently bemoaned the heavy schedule of games, albeit with nothing like the same ferocity of Pat's boss Kenny.
The League of Ireland belatedly postponed St Pat's away fixture in Dundalk last Sunday in recognition of "the unique opportunity that now exists for two League of Ireland clubs to compete in the league phase of UEFA Club competitions for the first time."
The fixture-makers evidently weren't so convinced of Rovers' chances this week and their home game against Galway United went ahead as planned at the weekend, ending in a 1-1 draw.
"It's obviously hard. You're playing tough games Thursday and Sunday but I'm not looking for excuses; it's about looking for solutions for what we want to do," Bradley said, when asked about the onerous schedule.
There were some encouraging narratives emerging from the Galway game, the returning Danny Mandroiu heading home the equaliser from a Jack Byrne cross. After a difficult second half of last season at Lincoln City, Mandroiu has returned to Tallaght for the closing stages of the domestic season
Former Player of the Year Byrne has played very fitfully due an injury interrupted season but played the full 90 minutes on Sunday and has been declared available for tonight's second leg.
On the flipside, Johnny Kenny has lost the race for fitness, while Aaron Greene and Darragh Nugent both miss out.
In the European run of '22, Rovers had rousing home wins over both Ferencvaros and Ludogorets, when both ties were essentially done and dusted from the first leg.
Repeating that feat against daunting opposition is as much as they can feasibly target this evening, before attention turns back to the title run-in.
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