So, we'll go some more a-roving

Shamrock Rovers became the first Irish team to progress to the Group Stages of European competition in the history of things happening last night, beating Partizan Belgrade in Serbia to win 3-2 on aggregate. Pretty big deal, huh? Check out the equalising goal by Pat Sullivan:



Thwack!

Anyway my knowledge of Irish club football is fairly limited, so I decided to hit up my man Orieldude for more on just what this all means.

This is the big breakthrough that has been threatened for a few years. It proves the League of Ireland is a lot closer to the Scottish Premier than people realised. However no one will be under any illusions that Rovers won't most likely finish bottom of their group.  

The question is can they kick on from here in terms of using the income wisely, and what it means for the rest of the League - will Rovers be able to leave the rest behind? 

They also face a few pressing challenges - the group stage goes on 6 weeks after the end of our season and the players will be out of contract. They also don't have a squad capable of taking on the EL unless they bug out of the league, which they couldn't allow happen now. So they must spend a good portion of the cash now to retain their players and sign new ones of a high standard.