St Pat's captain Joe Redmond is winning his fitness battle and could yet feature in Europe.
But Saints admit their Europa Conference League first round tie against F91 Diddeleng of Luxembourg on July 12 and 20 will come too soon for the centre-back.
Belfast giants Glentoran or Maltese side Gzira United await the winners in the second round, which Redmond will be targeting in late July and early August.
Redmond hasn’t played since early April after undergoing surgery in London on a serious hamstring injury.
It was feared he wouldn’t return until August at the earliest, meaning he would play no major part in Europe.
But St Pat’s boss Jon Daly has revealed his skipper is ahead of schedule, back running and could join in training within two weeks.
Daly, who also lost Redmond’s centre-back partner Tom Grivosti to an ACL injury, said: “It's like a hospital ward.
“Joe is probably the closest now which is great. He's probably a couple of weeks away from being integrated into training.
“He will probably join the group all going well the week of the European games.
“That would be too soon to chuck him back in, considering the amount of time he has been out, but I think he'll be reintroduced then.
“Then it's a case of how he goes along. Joe is one of the best, if not the best, centre-back in the league.
“We've missed him massively. We've conceded a lot of goals that if he's in there, I don't think we're conceding.”
Daly revealed he is close to agreeing a permanent deal for Jay McGrath, one of the young centre-backs standing in for Redmond.
He has been released by Coventry City but the Saints are eager to keep hold of him and Daly said: “We’re nearly there with it.
“We want to keep Jay in the building as we see there is something there we can develop.”
And Daly - the former Rangers striker - is also in the market for a couple of new signings but admits there are challenges in the market.
“It's probably more difficult than I anticipated, especially with out-of-contract players as a lot will look at options in the UK if they want to stay,” he said.
“The rewards in England and Scotland are financially a lot more rewarding if you have success over there, you can set yourself up for life. Money makes the world go round.”
Elsewhere in Europe, Shamrock Rovers will play Danish giants Copenhagen if they get past the preliminary round winners in the Champions League.
Derry City will play KuPS of Finland if they beat HB Torshavn in the Europa Conference League.
And Dundalk will face either KA Akureyri from Iceland or Connah’s Quay Nomads from Wales if they beat FCB Magpies in the same competition.
