At just 23, he’s the youngest player to captain an Irish side in Europe this season and Shaun Williams feels his side can complete the CS Maritimo mission at Dalymount Park tonight (7.45pm)

A brave display seven days ago on the mountaintop at the Estádio da Madeira was within seconds of yielding a draw for Fingal only for a last-gasp intervention.

What the 95 minutes of play did prove to Williams and his side was their readiness to see this two-legged tie through.

Williams has motivation on a number of fronts to want his side coming out tops at the Phibsboro venue, which is being used as home ground Morton Stadium doesn’t meet UEFA criteria.

As a native of Malahide, he can appreciate fully the impression which Sporting Fingal is having on the communities around the region of North Dublin.

Plus, with the next round pitting Fingal against either Welsh club Bangor City or Honka Espoo of Finland should they progress, he’s able to view a pathway through the hurdles and onto the business end of the competition.

He said: “Nobody was shocked that we played well and we all thought it was a very good result. We should have got a more out of it that losing 3-2 but everyone is happy we’re still in the tie.

“If I was asked before the game would I take that result, I definitely would. The only thing we were annoyed at was the late goal conceded.

“I thought it was a great experience on my behalf and sure on other lads as well. I was one of seven European debutants in our starting team - all the way from Brendan Clarke to Conan Byrne.

“Everyone is gunning for this return leg. We’ll definitely pull up our socks for this one. Liam has us geed up to the fact can win the game. Everyone wants to win because a big prize in the next round of the competition as the seeded team. After that, we’d be a few games away from the group stages but we’ll take each game as it comes.”

He added: “Technically, the pace they play the game at very demanding but we enjoyed it. The speed at which they plan means we need to concentrate every single minute of the game which maybe we didn’t at times in Madeira.

“For their first goal, Shane McFaul got stamped on. Conan, Ronan and Shane were all reacting to that incident and they were close together. When we watched it again on dvd, we could see the lads weren’t aware of what was going on when they played it quick and crossed for the goal.”

He added: “As a group, every one of us knows what strengths or weaknesses they have. We won’t sit back and let them at us, instead we’ll be going for it.

“We only need one goal to go through. The goals they scored at home weren’t world class, more minor mistakes on our behalf which we can rectify. Everyone knows their jobs.”

Meanwhile, Tickets for tonight's Sporting Fingal's UEFA Europa League 2nd Qualifying round, 2nd leg tie with CS Maritimo are available



Tickets are on sale from:

• Sporting Fingal Head Office, Newtown House, Swords
• Myers Centra, Santry (across the road from Morton Stadium)
• From Dalymount Park on the night

Tickets will be priced as normal, with adult tickets costing €15, concessions (students and seniors) €10, and Kids Go Free*.

*TERMS & CONDITIONS
This offer applies to primary School children only
Offer allows TWO children free entry when accompanied by a paying adult.