The Irish Inquisition: Combating the heresy of the EPL and Celtic FC on the Irish People since 2013

R.I.P. Santa Coloma

Leg 1: 29 July 2015, Bloomfield Tel-Aviv, Isreal

Leg 2: 5 August 2015, Aviva Stadium Stadium Dublin, Ireland

UEFA Champions League Champions Playoff

A first leg win provided a successful foundation for Shamrock Rovers, who secured a 4-2 aggregate victory over BATE following their second leg clash at BATE Stadium. Striker Tomislav Kis have the rovers the lead with a real poacher's effort from 15 meters in the 34th minute. BATE's midfielder Aliaksandr Yanush equalized after a well placed shot in the 69th minute. That would be the last goal in the match and Shamrock would survive a last chance surge by BATE.

With this Shamrock make history. They are the first Irish club to make the Champions League Group Stage. Under the management of Mike Korrigan the club has grown so much. During the Summer when UEFA announced the club rankings, SRFC moved up 198 places from the previous season. According to their so called 2020 Initiative one of the goals was to make it to the group stage by 2020. Well three years after it started they made it. Now we wait and see who they will be drawn with. The draw will take place on Friday at noon.

What an achievement! More or less bigger than a domestic trophy for you. Congrats!!!

I must have missed you signing Tomi Kis, tbendis would be proud! Brilliant stuff to make the Champions League group stage!

Btw, congrats on the SOTM nomination! Thoroughly deserved

Great achievement! Congrats!!

Group C is one of the most intriguing groups for this season. It features Real Madrid, Arsenal, Viktoria Plzen and Shamrock Rovers. The nine time champions are looking to win this year. During the 2014 final they lost to Chelsea. Arsenal come into the group as the English Premier League Champions. Finally Plzen and Shamrock Rovers finish the group. Both clubs made it from the playoff stage.

This is the Rovers first appearance in the Group Stage as well as the first time an Irish club made in this far. They are coached by Mike Korrigan who has been in charge since 2013. Last season they finished third in the Europa League with victories over AS Roma and FC Twente. They look to be the darkhorse in the competition. If things go well they will make third place and move to Europa.

Holy Crap dude that could not have got any more difficult

Bad luck mate! But with a little luck you can finish third!

I believe in you!

Great achievement in getting to the group stage but you are unfortunate in getting a very tough group!
Congrats on the SOTM nomination by the way

Well... I hope you believe in God In all seriousness, If you're gonna play in the Champions' League, to a certain degree, sides like Real Madrid are the teams you aspire to face. You've done well v Roma before so who knows?

Jason It's going to be hard but as Spongebob once said... I'M READY
AAN Thanks, that's my goal.
Trop Thanks!!
Pompey It's going to be wild. Also thanks, hopefully you get nominated soon.
Paddy Oh yeah that's what it's all about. I rather get murdered by a Real Madrid than get beat by Drogheda lol.

Again, a great start in the league!