Rovers have it all to play for in Europe

Shamrock Rovers will travel to Finland with it all to play for after a 1-1 draw with Finnish champions KuPS in Tallaght Stadium on Thursday night.

Rovers conceded with only minutes to go as KuPS ensured they will have home advantage for the deciding second leg of the UEFA Europa Conference League play-off, with a notably subdued atmosphere in Tallaght – 4,522 were in attendance for the final European qualifier at Whitestown Way this year.

The Hoops took the lead early in the second half through Enda Stevens after a free-kick caused KuPS problems but couldn’t add another as chances couldn’t find the same home.

KuPS had been building up well before their goal five minutes from added time had earned them parity in the tie and a chance at knocking out the Irish champions on home soil in the city of Kuopio.

The Tallaght side have lost all European away games so far this season, with defeats to Floriana, Ararat-Armenia and Egnatia along their journey from the Champions League first qualifying round.

Speaking to RTÉ, Rovers boss Stephen Bradley said that he understands the “negativity” around recent away performances.

Bradley stated: “If you look away in Armenia, we were very, very good, Malta not so good, obviously Albania not good.

“I think I understand the narrative and I can see why people would create a lot of negativity around our away performances, our results.

“But I think if you look throughout the years at the bigger picture, some of our away performances have been excellent.

“And like I said, Armenia was really good, so we just need to be calm, relaxed and go and play the game.”

It’s all or nothing to play for in Kuopio next Thursday after the result in the first leg and Rovers would have to buck the trend to prove their doubters wrong.

€3.17m worth of prize money is on the line for the local club, should they progress to the tournament proper for the fourth time in their history and the third year in a row.