Shelbourne continue their European odyssey tonight when they square up to Rijeka in Croatia in the Europa League third-round qualifiers (7.45pm kick-off).
Joey O'Brien's Reds were beaten 4-0 on aggregate in the Champions League by Qarabag, but have the comfort of two safety nets; if they're beaten by Rijeka, they'll drop down to the Conference League.
The reigning SSE Airtricity Men's Premier Division champions would play the winners of Greek side PAOK and the Austrians Wolfsberger if they defeated Rijeka, while they'd have a potential rematch with Linfield or a tussle with Vikingur from the Faroe Islands in the Conference League should they fall into that competition.
Alan Cawley believes the third-tier competition is where Shels most realistically have a shot at making the league stages, highlighting the resources and quality at Rijeka's disposal.
"I think this is more Shelbourne's level, Europa League/Conference League to be honest with you," Cawley told the RTÉ Soccer Podcast.
"This will be a tough game against this Croatian team. As we all know from the Croatian teams that we've seen over the years, brilliant technically, I think they've a big budget so you'd expect they've some very good players. I think this is going to be a really tough game but they're on the good side of the draw, or the good side of the pathway where they do have the safety net of dropping down.
"I think Shelbourne's best chance is the Conference League. I can't see them progressing them through this."
Cawley praised the job O'Brien has done since taking the reins from Damien Duff. There's been no major changes to the approach, but creatively Shels look a little sharper.
"It's still very much along the lines we've seen because obviously Joey was there with all the staff," he added.
"I do think he's kind of gone a litle bit more... you see the emergence of Ali Coote and Harry Wood in the last few games, playing as two No 10s, we didn't always see that under Damien Duff.
"To be fair to Coote and Wood, I think they've been their best two players since Joey's come in.
"Joey gets on great with the players, we all know that, and there's still a very good group of players there.
"I don't think a whole lot has changed but I would agree that it seems to be a little bit more calmer waters."
Keith Treacy talked up the progress Shels have made in the last two years. He also expects Rijeka to prevail but backed O'Brien's men to give a good account of themselves.
"We can look at it and think, 'this is the Irish champions, they should do this...'," he said. "But when you zoom out a little bit, Shelbourne are miles ahead of the curve when Damien Duff goes and wins the league, they get themselves into the Champions League and they drop down (to the Europa League).
"I don't think Damien Duff's Shelbourne was a broken team and everything needed to be upended. I just think there was a few little tactical tweaks.
"I think (Rijeka) have seven internationals in their team, I think it might be a bridge too far for Shelbourne, but this is all learning.
"This is a reward for how well they did last season and they should view it as a reward and take learnings out of the games. Go and test yourself against better opposition.
"Although I expect Shelboure to not win over the two games, don't sit down and let it happen. Put up a little bit of a fight, represent the League of Ireland with some pride, and as I say, go and have a swing."
Listen to the RTÉ Soccer podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
