SHAMROCK Rovers make the long journey to Aker Stadion, Norway this evening to take on Molde in the first leg of the UEFA Conference League knockout phase play-offs.
Stephen Bradley’s men finished tenth in the 36-team strong table, winning three of their six games, but their outing in Norway will be their first of 2025 and they’ll hope to get their year off to a good start.
Shamrocks will be minus a few key names from last season, with Johnny Kenny having recently returned to Scottish champs Celtic while Neil Farrugia joined Barnsley after the expiration of his contract.
The Dublin based side have been out of action since before Christmas as they are currently in pre-season for the start of their League of Ireland campaign, which kicks off with a trip to Bohemians this Sunday.
The Hoops last competitive outing was against Chelsea back in mid-December and they suffered a chastising 5-1 defeat at Stamford Bridge, with midfielder Markus Poom, who is now back at FC Flora, registering their only goal of the night.
That ended their unbeaten spell in the UEFA Conference League as the Shamrocks won three and drew two of their previous five games, with their victories coming over Larne, The New Saints and Borac.
Molde isn’t exactly new opposition for Shamrock Rovers as the sides also clashed in the group stages of the 2022 UEFA Conference League. The Norwegian side won both legs on an aggregate score of 5-0.
Like their Irish opponents, Molde haven’t had any competitive fixtures since December, when they picked up a 4-3 victory over Mlada Boleslav of the Czech Republic to advance past the league phase of the Conference League.
Molde squeezed into the top 24 of the league standings, winning just two of their six games with their triumphs coming against Larne and Mlada Boleslav while they also lost to Gent, Jagiellonia Białystok, APOEL before drawing with HJK.
The visitors could be up against it tonight, but they’ll hope to put in a solid shift ahead of their home time at Tallaght Stadium next week.