Reigning SSE Airtricity Women's Premier Division champions Peamount United flew to Croatia on Monday to begin their Women's Champions League mission, whch begins Wednesday morning with a clash against the Belarusians Dinamo-BGU FK.
James O'Callaghan's side won the league last October after a brilliantly efficient campaign, and though they have failed to hit those heights this year, Europe offers a tantalising shot at redemption.
Peamount are fifth in the league, 12 points adrift of leaders Athlone Town having played two games more. Bohs knocked them out of the FAI Cup last month, so they really are all in on this.
The Peas entered the tournament through the 'Champions Path', which means they have to come through a Round 1 semi-final and final before making it to Round 2, where the likes of Manchester City, PSG, Real Madrid and potentially Arsenal lie in wait.
If they were to scalp someone over two legs in Round 2, Peamount would go into the group stages of the competition. That would be an achievement so seismic it's almost difficult to comprehend, but for now the Dubliners must focus on the first hurdle in their European odyssey.
There are 11 four-team tournaments in the Champions Path, all dotted around the continent.
Peamount are in Tournament 9, which takes place in Osijek, Croatia, where they will square up to Dinamo-BGU FK from Minsk. The winners will take on either Osijek or Slovakian outfit Spartak Myjava this Saturday.
Thirteen years ago Peamount made history when they became the first ever Irish side to emerge from the Women's Champions League qualifying phase, beating Parnu of Estonia and Slovenians Krka to make the round of 32 knockout phase.
PSG ended the dream with a 5-0 aggregate win, but they were heady times for the Peas.
They had real calibre in the ranks at that time. Eileen Gleeson - now the head coach of the Republic of Ireland - was their manager, Louise Quinn protected the defence, with Aine O'Gorman, Julie-Ann Russell and Stephanie Roche part of a particularly strong squad.
The evergreen Karen Duggan also faced the French powerhouses back in 2011 and she will lead Peamount out once again tomorrow morning as they aim to upset tough opponents.
Dinamo-BGU's squad is exclusively made up of homegrown talent. The likes of Olga Kapysha, Alina Charlionak, Darya Maniukova, Anna Pilipenko, Anastasiya Linnik and Anna Sas are full internationals and helped Belarus (ranked 55th in the world) to make the Euro 2025 play-offs.
Indeed the Republic of Ireland could well have drawn them in the play-off semi-finals, only for lowly Georgia to come out of the pot instead. That was good news for the Girls in Green; Belarus would have been one of the toughest draws Ireland could have gotten.
So this is a big ask for Peamount.
"This season, compared to other ones, we wouldn't be happy with our standards," said Peamount's Republic of Ireland Under-19 midfielder Jess Fitzgerald.
"We know we have to raise them, especially going into the Champions League. We've worked on that in training, on and off the pitch."
Peas trio Fitzgerald, Freya Healy and Ellen Dolan were all part of the Ireland Under-19s squad that acquitted themselves so well at the UEFA Women's Under-19 European Championships during the summer.
That experience will serve them well over the next few days - as will the nous of the dressing-room leader Duggan.
Preparations well underway for @PeamountWomen ahead of tomorrow's Champions League fixture vs FC Dinamo-BSUPC 💪
— LOI Women (@LoiWomen) September 3, 2024
We visited midfielder Jess Fitzgerald in her hometown of Lucan before the team jetted off 🤩#WLOI | @UWCL pic.twitter.com/8G10K6kFn5
"Karen as captain, she's really good," added Fitzgerald. "She's always making sure everyone is okay on and off the pitch. She expects high standards from everyone and makes that clear, which I think is great. It led us to having the Champions League as well, it's a big attribute of it."
Elsewhere Katie McCabe will look to help Arsenal past Rangers in their Round 1 semi-final in London. The Gunners will play either Atletico Madrid (Spain) or Rosenborg (Norway) if they win.
In Lithuania, Caitlin Hayes' Celtic face KuPS Kuopio of Finland, with the victors clashing with either FC Gintra (Lithuania) or Agarista CSF Anenii Noi (Moldova).
And Glentoran have been pitted against the Slovenias ZNK Mura in Cyprus. A showdown against Apollon Ladies (Cyprus) or Pyunik Women Armenia is the reward for the winners.
