Shelbourne's Rachel Graham believes Athlone Town have the qualities to give Icelandic champions Breidablik a serious test when they meet in Round 2 of the Champions League qualifiers later this month.
Athlone have their supporters in dreamland after easing past Cardiff City in the Round 1 semi-final and then overpowering Croatian outfit Agram in the final.
Both of those games were at the Athlone Town Stadium, with Cardiff and Agram in their respective pre-seasons.
Such advantages won't be present in a few weeks' time.
Colin Fortune will bring his side to the Netherlands for a Round 2 semi-final against a Breidablik team top of their league table 11 games into their campaign.
The winners will take on either FC Twente or Red Star Belgrade in the final.
However, Graham fancies Athlone to give this a real go, telling the RTÉ Soccer Podcast: "Like we were saying about the Icelandic teams, they're usually big, strong, physical, but Athlone are a really fit team as well this year.
"They've really athletic players. I think if you've a good goalkeeper, or a good centre-forward, a good goalscorer, you'll always have a chance. They have both of them.
"They've some really good midfield players, like Hannah Waesch, who was excellent in the two games. She picks up really good positions, breaks up a lot of play, picks up a lot of loose balls.
"I saw they've made two new signings (Alexis Strickland and Kat Oelschlaeger).
"I don't know a whole lot about them but one has come from the same college (ex-Shels player) Maggie Pierce was in and she was obviously a really good standard so you'd expect maybe similar.
"I'd imagine if they're signing them they're going to be a really good standard and add to the squad depth they have at the moment."
Graham was part of the Raheny United team that reached the last 32 of the Champions League back in 2014.
She was also with Shels in 2022 when they lost the Round 1 final to Valur of Iceland over in Slovenia.
Breidablik are something of an unknown quantity, but Graham has confidence Athlone have enough about them to at least be competitive.
"The fitness levels they have, the pace, the power, I think it's going to suit them going into this Icelandic game," she said.
"They'll definitely put it up to them, but it's hard to know.
"I tried to get footage of the Breidablik team online and there's nothing really, I could just go off their league table. They're top of the league.
"They're not running away with the league but if you look at their goal difference compared to the other teams, they're running away in that sense.
"They've played 11 games, they've conceded eight goals and scored 43 goals which is way above other teams.
"They're obviously good at the back and good going forward so it's going to be a huge test for Athlone."
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