Alan Mannus hoping previous experience will help Shamrock Rovers

EXPERIENCE: Shamrock Rovers goalkeeper Alan Mannus. Pic: Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile

Alan Mannus believes previous battles against Norwegian and Swedish teams could enthuse Shamrock Rovers for their upcoming Europa Conference League campaign.

Friday's draw held in Istanbul pitted the Hoops against KAA Gent, Molde and Djurgardens FF. Fixtures, due to start on September 8, will be announced on Saturday.

Mannus played his part the last time Rovers reached the last-32 of the Europa League in 2011, keeping a clean sheet in the Champions League opener against Flora Tallinn, his final game before St Johnstone snapped up the stopper.

At 40, he’s the old-stager within the back-to-back league winners’ squad but feels this squad, following four successive home wins in Europe this season, can make an impression when the real business starts in a fortnight.

He draws on their experiences of similar teams in the past. Back in 2018, Rovers knocked out Brann from the same Norwegian Eliteserien top-flight that Molde operate in. A year later, it took until extra-time of the second leg for AIK of Stockholm to eke out a winner. Fellow Swedes Djurgardens will be of similar standard.

“We’ve played against Swedish and Norwegian teams in the last few years and we did well,” said the former Northern Ireland international.

“We have that bit of experience. We know we can give any team in Europe a tough game, especially in Tallaght, regardless of who they are or how good they are. We have a good record at home this season in Europe and we want to keep that going, regardless of who we play.

“We have a lot of respect for all the teams we will play against, but we still will give them a good game and we will be playing to get points, not just to be there.

“At the same time I’m sure all three teams will be thinking they can get points off us as well. We are very much aware of that as well.” 

KAA Gent will be the highest ranked team in the pool, rather than other possibilities from the first pots of seeds, Villareal or West Ham United.

“At this stage of the competition, you are not going to get any easy games, even more so getting into the group stages,” he added.

“The further you get the harder it becomes. It was always going to be a draw where we were going to get good teams.

“You are guaranteed to get one big team at least, with the way the draw works, and we got Gent. They are a big team, a very good team. They are a well-known team. They’ll all be tough games for us.”