It is fair to say that for Irish League clubs, the first step on their road to reaching a European group stage was relatively rocky.
Two of the four representatives advanced, while the other two must wait one more year before making a stamp on the continent once more.
It took a strike of epic proportions from all-time great Jamie Mulgrew for Linfield to force extra time against Welsh champions The New Saints.
When it appeared all but lost, the club’s second-highest appearance-maker in the club’s 136-year history struck the ball like his life depended on it. He hit it like he had no choice but to cash in all the chips, risking it all for the maximum gain possible.
Like James Bond against Le Chiffre in Casino Royale, the risk yielded reward and TNS went from hunter to hunted. His outside-box effort from 25 yards rose into the top-right, a flight of ball placed into an area no flapping goalkeeper is favoured to reach.
This table-turner in the fourth minute of six in added-time cued half an hour extra. Ethan Devine, a player who became a fan-favourite in the second half of last season for his knack of finding the net at all-important moments, repeated the trick.
Five minutes of 30 gone. The Blues of south Belfast held out. They won, and earned the right to face Bodø/Glimt in the next round.
It did come at a cost, though. Joel Cooper, returned to Northern Irish shores permanently (he had a loan back at Linfield too) after his spell across the water at Oxford United, went down.
He went down hard, under little pressure. He was stretchered off, hardly a sight anyone needed with the tough tests to come. Notably in the early stages, Cooper looked like the player from his first spell at the Windsor Park outfit who took opponents on at will and fashioned room to cross, who earned that move to the English third-tier.
A reminder that Bodø/Glimt are the successive champions of Norway. They may not be at the top in Norway right now, they may have lost several key players in the winter but Kjetil Knutsen’s side are the real deal.
Remember in 2020 when they cantered to the league scoring at the flick of their fingers with that trident of Junker, Hauge and Zinckernagel?
Yeah, that’s the kind of team you could do with having all your best players available against.
Linfield are underdogs. Of that there is no question. If they defy all odds and win, it’s the Lithuanian or Swedish champions in the next round.
Even if they lose, it’s still either the Azerbaijani or Swiss defending holders they’ll face in the Europa League. It is never going to be a canter on the continent.
There is a passion for group stage football to be played on Northern Irish shores. After all, following Windsor Park’s momentously successful staging of the UEFA Super Cup last year, there is no argument to say it could not be held in an utmost professional way.
“I want to be in Europe in the group stages in September, October and November and experience playing in Kazakhstan in November on a Thursday and then having to come back here and play Larne on a Sunday,” Linfield manager David Healy told in the post-match as quoted in the Belfast Telegraph.
We can talk about the money. We can talk about financial reward. It is clearly a factor. But lest we not talk about the cost without talking about value.
The satisfaction to the thousands who follow the Irish League would be out of this world.
Remember when Mourneview Park was sent to raptures four years ago when Glenavon beat Bodø’s domestic rivals Molde? If that could be replicated over two legs, it would be sensational.
It also benefits the co-efficient. While these clubs view each other as competitors, they are united on this front. A win for a Northern Irish club in Europe is a win for all.
So let’s think of it that way. Let’s try and give the satisfaction to everyone.
Crusaders also progressed in Europa Conference League qualifying. It also took added-time to seal their spot against Gibraltar side Bruno’s Magpies. After a 2-1 deficit amid the backdrop of the Mediterranean gateway, Stephen Baxter’s side won 3-1 at Seaview to set up a tie with Swiss Super League runners-up F.C. Basel without the stress of extra time.
Likewise, they enter unfancied. Basel, as with Bodø/Glimt, have energy in youth. They will need to be on top of their game.
Cliftonville fought a good fight but the name of Nikola Krstović will ring in their ears for a long while yet. His stunner moments after entering the fray off the bench gave Slovakian side D.A.C. a two-handed grip on the game and tie at Solitude and put it beyond the Reds’ reach.
Even Paddy McLaughlin could only sit back and admire the damage that the Montenegro international had inflicted upon his team.
Larne will be less satisfied. By quite a distance. Elimination while failing to score against fellow Gibraltarians St. Joseph’s across either leg is not up to the bar they set themselves in their European debut last summer.
In 2021, they sealed a historic tie win over Danish outfit A.G.F. and then won one leg against Portuguese Primeira side Paços de Ferreira.
The Blues from the capital’s south and Crues from up north thus fly the flag from here on in.
Baxter compared the heat in Gibraltar to a “furnace”. Basel will be a baptism of fire. The first leg is on the road at St. Jakob Park, close to the border with Germany, so one thinks if they can even keep the score within reach that they are in with a stab on the return, that would be a position they would more than take.
Bruno’s Magpies did not even exist a decade ago. Crusaders are now three-quarter full-time. Baxter has been in charge continuously for almost twice as long as their last-round adversaries have existed.
It took a last-minute winner to see them off when on paper it perhaps could have been more comfortable.
They saw the task through but the job at hand is far from done. They do not have a second chance. A win against the odds would mean that either the Danish champions of 2021 Brøndby or Polish contenders Pogoń Szczecin await them.
It is time for them and Linfield to gear themselves up for a new challenge that they both know is a step-up in level.
If this over-arching dream of a group stage place is to be maintained, cockiness and complacency must be left at the door.
It is a new beginning. A new dawn. That must be the mindset, and the rest will duly speak for itself.
Featured image from Pacemaker via BBC Sport.
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