Heimir's Conference call as Rovers and Shels on verge

Heimir Hallgrimsson will be an interested observer on Thursday evening as Shamrock Rovers and Shelbourne aim to progress to the lucrative phase of the UEFA Conference League.

League of Ireland champions Shelbourne and current league leaders Shamrock Rovers are both well placed to qualify for the league phase of the competition.

Shels take a 3-1 lead up North to Windsor Park as they go head-to-head with the Irish League holders, Linfield, while the Hoops brought back a vital 2-1 lead from the Azores against Portuguese side Santa Clara, and Stephen Bradley's side will be looking to maintain that advantage and progress for the second consecutive season.

"It's going to be a huge week for Irish football, this one," said Hallgrimsson, when asked if clubs qualifying for such European levels can shine more of a spotlight on the home-based players.

"The teams are in such a good position now, it's easy to get carried away and think we could have two teams in the Conference League.

"For us, definitely, playing day in, day out, and a longer season as well, is going to get them closer to playing for the national team."

Shels are looking to fly the flag for the League of Ireland once again in Belfast

And Hallgrimsson was particularly impressed with the way that Rovers are playing in the continental competition, using their experience and sticking to the gameplan with confidence, which has reaped rewards again this year.

"If you see Shamrock Rovers' games, how tactically confident they are, the Kosovo team (Ballkani), when they were losing 1-0, they just kept on doing the same thing.

"The belief in these games are growing. If there's a difference between the two teams now, the confidence is easy to see, for always.

"It's more like passion, in the other. It's always going to be a competitive game, there's a lot of passion there, but the tactical confidence in the whole team is just nice to see."

Which brought the conversation on to whether any League of Ireland players were in the shake-up for a spot in the current 23.

Hallgrimsson had already spoken about the quality of players that he had to omit from his final selection such is the competition for places, and while Josh Honohan was involved in the camp during the summer, it was not, perhaps, a major surprise that the Shamrock Rovers man was overlooked on this occasion.

"We talked about a few players, but it's a tough moment because all of our players are playing really well," said Hallgrimsson.

"The season started really well. If you talk about Josh Honohan now, Jake (O’Brien) is playing day in, day out, Matt Doherty is playing all games in the Premier League, so it's a tough fight.

"Jimmy Dunne, as well, played really well last season for Queens Park [Rangers], he's coming now, his first game didn't go well, but he's playing really well as captain of his club, so it's tough competition.

"Good for me, but tough for the players who want to come in."

You can follow a live blog on both matches on RTÉ.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app

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