Hoops dreaming of Juve

SHAMROCK ROVERS v Juventus. As U2 might put it, it’s far away, so close.

The exciting news for Hoops fans thrown up by yesterday’s Europa League draw has given rise to a complicated saga involving Ireland’s most famous rock band, Sporting Fingal and their own club, but the upshot of it all is that if Shamrock Rovers do progress to face Juventus in the Europa League, the Hoops will have to play the first leg away – and in Modena, not Turin.

The prospect of a meeting with the Italian giants has been rightly described as “mouthwatering” by Rovers chairman Jonathan Roche. However, he is anxious to stress that the club is primarily concentrating for now on the more immediate and very difficult task of prevailing in the second leg of their Second Round tie against Bnei Yehuda in Tel Aviv next Thursday. And, with the score at 1-1 from the first leg in Tallaght, it’s certainly the Israelis who will be seen as favourites to set up a third round clash with mighty Juve.