Shamrock Rovers will play Cliftonville in the second round of the Uefa Conference League if the Northern Irish team can beat St Joseph’s of Gibraltar.
The potential tie was revealed just a day after League of Ireland champions Shelbourne were drawn to play Linfield in the Champions League qualifiers.
The tie will be played over two legs, with Rovers away in the first leg on July 24th and at home in the return on the 31st.
St Joseph’s now stand in the way of the next Dublin-Belfast clash. Shelbourne struggled on the way to a 3-2 aggregate win over the Gibraltarian side in the first round of Conference League qualifying last year.
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Rovers have recently played Northern Irish opposition in Europe, as they beat Larne 4-1 in Windsor Park in last year’s Conference League group phase.
They were moved into the second round draw following Uefa’s ruling not to admit Drogheda United to the competition.
Last year’s Conference League will serve as an example for all Irish teams in Europe, with Rovers earning over €6 million and advancing to the knockout rounds of the competition. In the group phase, Rovers finished above eventual finalists Real Betis, who also ended the season in sixth in La Liga.
Shelbourne were involved in two draws at Uefa HQ in Nyon, Switzerland on Wednesday. They would face a clash with Azerbaijan’s Qarabag FK should they beat Linfield in the Champions League qualifiers.
The Azerbaijani champions have qualified for the competition outright once before, back in 2017/18 and were eliminated in the final round of qualification last year by Dinamo Zagreb.
The loser of the Shelbourne-Linfield tie will face the loser of FK Zalgiris (Lithuania) vs Hamrun Spartans (Malta) in the second round of Conference League qualifiers.
St Patrick’s Athletic would face either Nomme Kalju of Estonia or FK Partizani Tirana of Albania in the second round if they progress through their first round match.
In Tuesday’s first round draw, the Inchicore-based team were drawn against Lithuania’s FC Hegelmann, who were only founded in 2009.
Pat’s will host Hegelmann on July 10th in the first leg, and if they advance they would also host the first tie of their second round clash on the 24th.
They are hoping to go one step further than last year, where they were knocked out by Istanbul Basaksehir in the playoff round. Hegelmann’s only European appearance came in 2023, when they were knocked out by KF Shkupi of North Macedonia in the first round of Conference League qualification.
