Rovers are back on European adventure

SHAMROCK Rovers will continue their brilliant run in the Europa Conference League when they square up to Molde in Norway in the knockout phase play-offs on Thursday.

Stephen Bradley’s side have had a brilliant adventure in the competition with good results.

Molde came 23rd in the league phase while Shamrock Rovers came third and netted nearly €7 million in prize fund in the competition.

The sides did meet in 2022 when Molde won 2-0 in Tallaght Stadium and 3-0 away but the Hoops will be going in with confidence with some impressive results before the end of last year.

The Hoops qualified for the knockouts with a game to spare with their last game against Premier Lague side Chelsea at Stamford Bridge going down 5-1.

They secured a 3-0 win against Borac Naja Luje.

However the Hoops have lost a number of key players in pre-season including striker Johnny Kenny and Darragh Burns as well as Markus Poom.

They will be looking to Daniel Cleary in defence as well as Roberto Lopes for leadership while Graham Burke, Danny Mandroiu and Jack Byrne will have key roles to play.

Rovers have signed five new players to help strengthen their squad with Danny Grant coming in from Bohemians, keeper Ed McGinty signing from Oxford United, Michael Noonan from St Patrick’s Athletic, Matt Healy from Royal Francs Borains and Adam Matthews from Omania FC.