Rory Gaffney sent a sobering warning to his Shamrock Rovers team-mates by reminding them of what matters most.
The League of Ireland champions are cock-a-Hoop about securing European group stage football having so far made the most of their champions path route.
It remains to be seen if they will contest the Europa League proper - they face Ferencvaros in Hungary next week - or the Conference League which is already theirs.
But up next is Friday’s difficult league trip to Derry City - which the Candystripes refused to move - and Gaffney insists that should be the only focus right now.
The striker scored the 65th minute goal in North Macedonia on Tuesday night that sealed the deal against KF Shkupi.
But he said celebrations need to be parked and minds focused on maintaining their lead at the top of the Premier Division.
Preparations for Friday night received an unexpected boost yesterday when Rovers’ early morning charter back from Macedonia was rerouted to Dublin because of fog in Shannon.
With widespread travel chaos such a controversial issue in European games to date, it’s a small victory they will take.
Gaffney said: “I don’t want to bang on about cliches but our full focus is Derry on Friday night.
“If we don’t win the League we would be at a huge disadvantage (for Europe) next season.
“We had a favourable tie against the team from Malta. Everyone was delighted to get them. Out of the five teams we could get that day, we did want Hibs.
“It made things easier for us. And we would have taken a team from North Macedonia compared to somebody else we could have got.
“We’ll want to have a go at the group stages but it will be wasted if we don’t win the league. That’s our bread and butter and that’s our main focus.
“We have two huge games against Derry and Dundalk. Get two results there and I think it will be hard to catch us.”
But Gaffney’s tunnel vision doesn’t mean he can’t take a step back and reflect on this week’s achievement..
Particularly after Rovers were left so deflated a year ago when falling short to Flora Tallinn of Estonia in the Conference League playoff.
This time around, the Galway man feels the Hoops can do more than just take part in the group stages - he wants to leave a mark.
If the Conference League is where Rovers end up, they will bank €500,000 for every group game won and €166,000 for each draw.
Gaffney said: “The club has invested in the squad.
“If you were saying at the start of the season that you’d have qualified for the group stages where Pico is injured, Chris McCann is injured, Danny Mandriou has left, Jack Byrne is coming back from injury, Graham Burke has been injured recently….it just shows you quality that’s in the squad.
“Last year, Flora sat back and picked us off. This year, the gaffer worked on that and spoke about that.
“I haven’t been here for a lot of the European games, but he uses video clips to point out how teams have punished them (Rovers) at times.
“He’s always looking at the bigger picture. He might show a clip from, say, a Finn Harps game and say, ‘That could cost you in Europe’.
“He’s been thinking about it and he’s been building this over the last number of years. Thankfully it has come this year.”
The most impressive aspect of Rovers’ progression to the (minimum) €3.3 million group stages was just how effortless it was.
Stephen Bradley wasn’t happy after the 3-1 home win over Shkupi last Thursday as he felt Rovers needlessly let their opponents back into the game.
But with Shkupi chasing the tie on Tuesday, the Hoops were in cruise control throughout and deservedly won the game.
There is more maturity in the team and Rovers have learned from their European mistakes of the past.
Gaffney said: “It’s a great achievement but I suppose it was a nervy night.
“Thank God, we were so good in the first half (in the first-leg) with the two goals because after both games, I think 5-2 flatters us a bit.
“I don’t think they’re as bad as the scoreline suggests. They’re very dangerous going forward and we looked open and ropey at the back.
“We probably found it hard to create anything clear cut. We could have been one or two up at half-time but they were dangerous and good on the ball.”
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