The permutations ahead for Shamrock Rovers after first leg victory

ALL SMILES: Shamrock Rovers' Rory Gaffney, Dylan Watts and Andy Lyons celebrate a goal. Pic: ©INPHO/Evan Treacy

Shamrock Rovers look a shoo-in for their first Uefa Champions League second qualifying round tie since 2011 after racking up a resounding 3-0 first-leg lead over Hibernians before 7,019 fans on Tuesday night.

Uefa have linked their three competitions to ensure teams knocked out of in the Champions League earn backdoor routes into the Europa League or the newest sister component from last year, the Europa Conference League.

We look at the potential scenarios for Stephen Bradley’s side, confident they’ll see out the primary mission next week to guarantee them a minimum of three more ties, six games, on the European stage this season.

It’s akin to Snakes and Ladders or more so Monopoly for the riches on offer when landing on the bank. Prize-money of over €3m is within their grasp.

What if Rovers…?

Suffer a calamity on Tuesday by sacrificing a seemingly insurmountable three-goal lead:

Just like last year, they’d reroute into the second round of the Conference League to face the loser of the duel between Levadia Tallinn against Vikingur Reykjavik.

Complete the job in Malta:

Seal a Champions League second round pairing on July 19. That will most likely be against Bulgarian champions Ludogorets, who lead Montenegrin outfit Sutjeska 2-0 from their first-leg.

Scalp Ludogorets - Champions League group stage participants in 2017 and Europa League equivalent in the five seasons since:

Proceed to the third round, one step away from a Champions League play-off. Dizzying heights.

Lose over two legs to the Bulgarians:

Drop into the Europa League for a third round tie on August 4 and 11. Hurdle that one and they’ll nail a play-off for the Europa League phase during the following fortnight.

Lose their Europa League third round clash:

Two lives gone and one remaining. It’s still a tantalising one on August 18 and 25, for Rovers would be within 180 minutes of the Conference League group stages.

That was the height of their progress last year, disappointingly suffering defeats in both legs against Flora Tallinn.