Rovers have point to prove against Tallinn

CONSIDERING their profile and storied history, it’s a startling stat but a fact nonetheless: Shamrock Rovers have never won a game in Europe’s premier club competition.

Of course, they have had their glory nights in the Cup Winners Cup and the UEFA Cup and, as recently as in last season’s Europa League, they emerged with huge credit from two games against mighty Juventus.

But when Estonian champions Flora Tallinn come to Tallaght tonight for the first leg of a Champions League second qualifying round, the Hoops will be aiming to erase a stain from their illustrious record. Manager Michael O’Neill is insistent that recent setbacks at the club, on and off the pitch, do not amount to anything even vaguely approximating a crisis for the Airtricity League champions, despite a recent media report which claimed things were ‘spiralling out of control’ in Tallaght.

“We are one point off the top of the table despite the ‘crisis’ we are in, we are Setanta Sports Cup winners and the defending league champion,” he said.

“A lot of the stuff written has not come from within the club and is not designed to be helpful in any way. We are not coming into this game low on confidence.”

O’Neill admits the Estonians are something of an unknown quantity, the Rovers boss having had limited access to footage of the opposition in action.

However, former Hoop Shane Robinson, now playing with FC Haka in Finland, scouted the team in their most recent competitive game, a 3-3 draw which kept up their unbeaten league campaign this season.

He reported back to O’Neill that, although facing a decent team and a stiff test, Rovers should feel confident they can progress. Their cause will certainly be helped if striker Gary Twigg, playing his 100th competitive game for Rovers tonight, can mark the occasion by opening his European account, a reward which would be even more valuable than the shirt of Alessandro Del Piero he took away from the fixture against Juve last season.

“My wife framed it for me for Christmas and it’s sitting in my three-year-old son Kaiden’s bedroom,” he said.

“I didn’t score last year but, hopefully, I can get that monkey off my back tonight and that, at the end of the game, I’ve got a goal and we’ve got a good victory.”

* Kick-off in Tallaght Stadium tonight is at 8pm.