The annual can Irish clubs do it post

With the summer edging closer the annual question around Irish and Northern Irish sides is how far can they go in European competition, which starts again in July. These European games are a big deal for sides on this island as the prize money for entering is greater than what is on offer domestically. It also gives us a platform to compare the two leagues here to other leagues and see how we fare.

However the question remains, realistically how far can Irish and Northern Ireland sides go this summer. For the League of Ireland (Republic of Ireland's league) the entrants are already decided with Dundalk set for the champions league qualifiers and Cork City, St Patrick's Athletic and Shamrock Rovers flying the tricolour in the Europa league qualifiers. Looking at that line up I have to say its probably the strongest line up of clubs we have entering in quiet a while. Northern Ireland will have its entrants finalised in the coming weeks as their seasons closes end of April. Currently Crusaders are on course for a champions league berth with Linfield in 2nd. After that its a fight between Portadown, Glentoran (Both play the cup final), Cliftonville and Glenavon for the final Europa league spot via the league.
          I fully expect Dundalk to struggle in the champions league, being unseeded opens the door to having a tie with the likes of Celtic, Malmö, APOEL or even Dinamo Zagreb, which would require a monumental effort over two legs. One only has to look back last summer to see how St Patrick's Athletic were blown away by Legia Warszawa after a tremendous effort and result in the 1st leg in Poland. Indeed that shows how tough it is for Irish sides in the champions league, a great result is only half the battle. Recent history dictates that Dundalk will be out after one round as not since Shamrock Rovers beat Flora Tallinn in 2011 has an Irish side progressed a round in the champions league.
Northern Ireland's adventures in the champions league haven't been great either with the likes of Celtic, Debreceni and AEL Limassol putting out Cliftonville and Linfield in recent years.

The Europa League is where progress in recent years has been made. Indeed it was Shamrock Rovers who made the group stage breakthrough in 2011 while St Patrick's Athletic have had some good runs in this competition in recent years. For Cork City its a first European campaign since 2008 and will be unseeded while St Pats and Rovers will have the luxury of a seed in the 1st qualifying round. As a City fan I will be hoping we can progress one or two rounds but much really depends on who we get. Being unseeded opens the possibility of playing Rosenborg or even IFK Göteborg which would be tough but if we could overcome those sides we would have an excellent chance of getting to the 3rd qualifying round.
 
For the Europa League I can't see it being an unbelievably good year for Irish sides but I'd expect St Pats and Rovers to get through one round at least before coming up against better opposition. For City I'm going to optimistic and say the same.  Should Crusaders claim the Northern Irish title they'll start in the 1st qualifying round against the champions from Wales, San Marino, Armenia and the likes which gives them a half a chance of progressing to the 2nd qualifying round where they'll face the same obstacles as Dundalk. I'd back Crusaders to get through the 1st qualifying round.
For Linfield I'd expect them to get through one round before going out but for the others currently battling to get into the Europa League with the exception of maybe Cliftonville I can't see any of them getting through one round.