Jack Byrne and Graham Burke have handed Shamrock Rovers a double Champions League boost - ahead of Tuesday night’s second-leg away to Hibernians of Malta.
They have both been declared fit and “ready to play” by manager Stephen Bradley, ahead of training on Monday evening at the Ta’ Qali Centenary Stadium.
Ireland midfielder Byrne has missed the last seven games with a calf injury, while senior cap Burke last featured on the bench in last month’s win away to St Patrick’s Athletic.
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Rovers are 3-0 up from last week’s first-leg in Tallaght and are firm favourites to progress to a second round clash, which is likely to pit them against Bulgarian side Ludogorets Razgrad.
Speaking from the team’s base in Malta, Bradley said: “Jack and Graham are back available and will be involved.
“Neil [Farrugia] is another couple of days. He's here training with us and he's close but we will probably leave him for another few days.
“But Jack and Graham are back. They are ready to play.”
Rovers had to switch their travel arrangements due to the crisis at Dublin Airport - and departed for the Mediterranean island from the west of the country instead.
“We flew out of Shannon. We obviously had an issue with Dublin airport, they couldn't staff the plane, so we tried Belfast but we ended up through Shannon. It was great,” Bradley said.
“It was fine. No issues in the airport, they looked after us really well.
“The flight was good, we stopped in Paris for a short refuelling and then straight over here. It was a good day, no issues at all.”
Despite their strong first-leg lead, Rovers won’t be complacent in their approach to the second-leg.
“We obviously looked back at the game a number of times and we aren't happy with the chances we gave up in the second half,” said Bradley.
“On another night they could have pulled one or two back, so we have to make sure we don't give them those opportunities in tomorrow's game.
“Our aim is to go and win the game but we have to respect them and not give up the chances we gave up in Tallaght.”
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