Oct 23,2024
Shamrock Rovers will go in as slight favourites for their UEFA Conference League match against Larne on Thursday but former Hoops goalkeeper Barry Murphy has warned that their opponents have the quality to fancy their own chances of victory at Windsor Park.
Larne's involvement in this season's league phase is the first ever by a Northern Irish club in a European competition proper. Conversely, this is Rovers' third go at a group stage or league phase, having featured in the Europa League in 2011-12 and the Conference League two years ago.
Larne, who have enjoyed a meteoric rise since the 2017 takeover by boyhood fan Kenny Bruce, lost their opening league phase match 3-0 away at Norwegian side Molde, whereas ten-man Shamrock Rovers earned a 1-1 draw at home to Cypriot champions APOEL.
The revamped nature of the league phase means 24 of the 36 teams involved in the opening stage will advance to the next round and the Larne match - as well as the subsequent home fixture against Wales' The New Saints - have been billed as real opportunities for Rovers to boost their hopes of becoming the first League of Ireland side to reach a knockout stage in Europe.
But while Murphy believes Stephen Bradley's side will have the edge going up to Belfast - where Larne will play home games instead of their own Inver Park - he expects Tiernan Lynch's charges will be just as confident of getting a result against Rovers.
"Shamrock Rovers have been the underdogs in a lot of games in Europe, got points and got really good results.
"You look at some of the quality that Larne do have and they have obviously progressed so quickly over four years since Kenny Bruce's come in with the money, got promoted, won the league twice, back-to-back champions. And they beat Lincoln Red Imps to qualify for this round and put up a decent performance against Molde in the first round of games.
"You just look at the players they have. Some of the Derry fans listening will know Sam Todd and Jordan McEneff, who were surplus to requirements at Derry, but they've got good players in Andy Ryan up top - couple of goals already this season - and Joe Thomson is a very good midfielder who had a spell at Celtic as well.
"So they've got really good players as well. They'll fancy their chances against Shamrock Rovers as much as Rovers will going up there.
"It's a really tough place to go up and play in Windsor Park. I played up there in 2013 against Linfield, it's really hostile and the fans get right behind them so it makes for a very good game."
The Hoops' engine room was built around solidity more than creativity against APOEL with Jack Byrne and Dylan Watts eventually coming off the bench to good effect as they chased an equaliser.
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While Bradley may have a selection dilemma in that area of the pitch, Murphy feels Rovers need to make the most of their pace up front against a Larne side that may be lacking in that department defensively.
"They went for a 3-4-2-1 formation against APOEL, looking for legs in the middle. You've got the quality of Graham Burke coming off the bench in previous rounds, you've got the in-form Jack Byrne back to what he's been over previous years and Dylan Watts running things in midfield. You've got a great chance," he said.
"But what Rovers have used really well in the qualifying rounds is the legs of Aaron Greene and Johnny Kenny up top.
"That's caused real problems and it's a throw-back to old-school centre-forward play - balls in behind and getting on the end of them - but it's caused massive problems for the lower-ranked teams in the qualifying rounds and I think that's a position we'll see just by the way Larne play with the centre-halves; just having a look at them they don't look like the paciest of centre-halves and I think that's a real area that Rovers can exploit."
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