With the qualifying round draws for the 2015/16 Champions League and Europa League set to take place in UEFA headquarters in Nyon on Monday, there is a keen Irish interest in the outcome – and not just from League of Ireland supporters.
While fans of Dundalk, Cork City, St. Patrick's Athletic, Shamrock Rovers and UCD are eager to see who their clubs will face in Europe this season, a number of former LOI players will be looking on too, such as: Barry Molloy and Stephen O'Flynn (both currently with Champions League-bound Crusaders); Declan 'Fabio' O'Brien, Ciarán Martyn and David Elebert (all with Glenavon); Niall McGinn (Aberdeen); and Graham Cummins and Alan Mannus (both with St. Johnstone).
Aberdeen also boast a trio of Dubliners in Adam Rooney, Willo Flood and Jonny Hayes, while Richie Foran and Aaron Doran are part of the Inverness Caledonian Thistle side making its UEFA competition debut in the second qualifying round of the Europa League.
Apart from Rovers' Keith Fahey and City's Alan Bennett, Colin Healy and Liam Miller, there will be other Republic of Ireland internationals involved at this early stage as well. Celtic striker Anthony Stokes is in the Champions League first qualifying round pot, while Joey O'Brien, Darren Randolph (both West Ham United) and Cillian Sheridan (AC Omonia, Cyprus) are all in the Europa League equivalent with their clubs.
With so much Irish involvement in this year's two opening draws, Extratime.ie looks at the top five Irish international appearance holders in UEFA club competition.
Top five appearance holders at the time of writing were Roy Keane (84), Emma Byrne (77), Denis Irwin (77), John O'Shea (77) and Shay Given (71). Continue reading my feature on these players' exploits in Europe on Extratime.ie.
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