Europa League tie bigger than cup final - claims Derry City manager Declan Devine

The Candy Stripes face FK Riteriai in a winner-takes-all one legged UEFA Europa League first round qualifier on Tuesday, August 26th.

“It’s as big as any cup final I have ever been involved in. I have been involved in a lot of cup finals throughout my career but this is bigger, as the prize at stake is bigger,” he stated.

“We fought for 38 games last year to get into the Europa League to earn ‘X’ amount of money and now you are potentially 90 minutes away from getting the same again, so it’s a huge prize and it’s huge for any football club in terms of this level of the competition.

“Since the draw was made I’ve learned quite a bit about them. I have seen at least three or four of their matches and I don’t know where people are saying that this tie is a bit of ‘gimme’ because it’s not.

“It’s a very difficult game. Throughout our history we haven’t progressed through many rounds of European competition. If we take 2006 out of the equation, I don’t remember too many times that we have progressed in recent years. I know Aberystwyth and I remember back as far as (Skonto) Riga that we got through a tie.

“Yes, everybody can look at their league form and see where they are in the league table but it’s going to be a very difficult game for us. They are a technically gifted side having watched a lot of their games.

“It is the draw we would have taken out of the three other teams, definitely, but at the same time, we are going to have to be at our best in a one-off game in Europe with a lot of prize money at stake.

“I’m sure nobody is going to lay down and give you a free shot at anything at this level of the competition. They have decent pedigree, they put St Johnstone, under Tommy Wright, out of the Europa League a couple years ago and they certainly have players that I have seen in the game, that I have watched up to date, that are very talented players.

“Do I see things that we can potentially get at? Absolutely,but I’m sure if they look at some of our games, they would be thinking they can get at us as well.

“To be honest, we aren’t even looking at it at the minute. I haven’t spoken to the players in the context of it. Yes, I have to do my work on them but the players are only focusing on Shelbourne on Saturday.

“Every European game is a different type of style and it has a different feeling for everybody but, at the same time, we have got to get better with the ball and make sure that we have large possession.

“It doesn’t matter who you play in Europe, you have to be dominating the football and that’s the way we’ll look to play out there as well. We’ll look to go out to Lithuania with a game plan,” he explained.

“The game is played to a finish which is very unusual and you only have to look at the Champions League and Europa League at the minute, with a lot of teams hanging on for their lives and trying to see out results; Man United winning in extra-time, Sevilla beating Wolves late-on and Atalanta thinking they had won and then PSG come back in the last moments in the game.

“These games are very different from what everybody has experienced in Europa League or Champions League football. Financially, for us, a win would be a lot of money and we have to make sure that we do our work right and ensure we know everything about them but we also have to make sure that we turn up when we get out there and perform.”

Devine wants his players to build some momentum before their European clash in Vilnius and has challenged his squad to be ready for what is going to be a tough few weeks ahead.

“We have potentially four or five games in the next 22 days, that’s really, really important to us,” he added.

“We play Shelbourne away, home to Cork, we are away to Lithuania, we have Drogheda United in the cup and Dundalk at home; so it’s a very difficult 22 days with a lot of football to be played over the next few weeks.”