Shamrock Rovers have been told to roll up their sleeves and get down and dirty in their bid to shock Molde tomorrow.
The Hoops are in Norway for their third Europa Conference League game and face the team that Stephen Bradley rates as the strongest in the group.
And it’s not hard to see why as Molde are 15 points clear of Bode/Glimt at the top of the Eliteserien standings with just six league games to go.
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But, like the Hoops, they have yet to win in this European group and are alongside Rovers on one point with Gent and Djurgardens leading the way on four apiece.
Yet the Hoops have been given hope by a Norwegian-born Irishman who has the inside track on Molde - as one of their league rivals.
Sean McDermott is the Kristiansund goalkeeper and feels Rovers have a chance tomorrow night if they ‘get a bit nasty’ and bring the fight to their hosts.
McDermott, 29, was called into Republic of Ireland senior squads under Martin O’Neill and Mick McCarthy and also won six caps for the Under-21s.
He was on the bench for Nations League games against Wales, twice, and Denmark under O’Neill and was part of the travelling party to Poland for a friendly.
And in 2019, McCarthy called him in for the Euro 2020 qualifying draw away to Denmark and the home win over Gibraltar - but the scent has gone cold since then.
“I haven't heard from them and you have to respect that but I’m performing well and I’ll keep working hard and we'll see,” said the goalkeeper on his international ambitions.
McDermott, whose father is from Donegal and his mother from Norway, said: “Molde are a very good football side, as are Bode/Glimt.
“What's impressive about Bode is they get players who are relatively unknown and make them into something special.
“At Molde, they see who the best players in the league are right now and buy them and put it all together.
“They’re very strong in every position and all the players will have something extra about them. Magnus Wolff Eikrem is the key player for them.
“They play very good football but when we play them, they feel the pressure because it's a local derby and they’re supposed to be the big brother.
“They feel the pressure and if we're tough with them and play a bit of the dirty side, you can see they are uncomfortable with it.
“They don't like to get tough in tackles, doing the dirty side. They have it in them, but they don't like it. They prefer teams to sit back and let them play their nice football.
“You have to give them a really good challenge because if you let them dictate the game, it will go their way.”
McDermott, whose club Kristiansund are deep in a relegation battle but only lost 2-1 and 3-2 to Molde this season, continued: “Be tough with them and don't give them time.
“Be aggressive and a little bit nasty - make them feel like they don't want to be out there.
“You can see it in their players, they are comfortable when they don't have opposition players running at them all of the time and getting stuck in or leaving a foot in.
“They hate it when it becomes a battle. When you give the good teams like Molde, Bode and Rosenborg too much respect they will walk all over you.
“If Shamrock Rovers are willing to go the extra mile against them, they have every chance.
“When we play them at Kristiansund, Molde know they are the favourites and know they should beat us and it will be the same for Shamrock Rovers.
“But all the pressure is on Molde tomorrow and if Shamrock Rovers can mix it up, they will have a great chance.”
According to McDermott, Norwegian club football is getting stronger and stronger and he credits the Norwegian FA for driving that with a change in approach.
It is one that Ireland will get to see first hand next month when Stephen Kenny’s men host Erling Haaland and company at Aviva Stadium in a friendly on November 17.
And there are some parallels with the League of Ireland whereby more and more young Norwegians are choosing to stay at home and play for longer.
McDermott said: “For the last 10 years, Norway has worked hard - from underage to senior level - on playing out from the back.
“They want to develop technical players and it's coming through with Erling Haaland and Martin Odegaard.
“In the national team, we now have players at good clubs like Manchester City, Arsenal,
Napoli and teams in Germany and Spain.
``We've players everywhere now and it's a reason why the national team has gotten so much better.
“And the Norwegian league is getting more attractive because we're developing these sorts of internationals.
“A lot of players are staying in the Norwegian league for a few years longer before they go to stronger leagues.
‘They know they might develop better and get looked after better by playing first-team games.
“Big clubs around Europe are watching this league now and there’s a bigger chance of going straight into those teams, rather than being in an academy set-up.”
And the Norwegian league is also benefitting from a financial boost that McDermott has never seen the likes of before.
He added: “This year there have been some crazy transfers with Molde and Bodo/Glimt using money never seen before in Norwegian football.
“Bode, for example, sold Patrick Berg to Lens in France for €4m and bought him back for almost the same price and you would never see that in Norwegian football.
“These clubs have the money now. It's still a tough league with a lot of tackling and a bit of the dirty side, but most clubs in this league want to play out from the back.
“They want to play good football and I think that is why the league has developed.”
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