Eddie Gormley, captain of St Patrick's Athletic, disclosed yesterday that at least some of the motivation for Wednesday's spirited display against Celtic was inspired by the Scots.

And they performed so well in restricting Celtic to a scoreless draw that they are now in with a realistic chance of qualifying for the second preliminary round of the European Champions League, against FC Zagreb of Croatia.

"We were in the dressing-room, getting ready to go out, when I happened to flick through the pages of the match programme," recalls Gormley. "And the first thing I noticed was an advertisement advising Celtic supporters to book early for the next round against Zagreb.

"Here we were, getting ready for the most important game of our careers and Celtic were convinced we were wasting our time. That was the thought we took on to the pitch with us and it kept us going for the 90 minutes."

Just how well St Patrick's responded to that challenge was evident in yesterday's Scottish press which, while castigating Celtic for their lack of a cutting edge, paid due tribute to the Irishmen's resilience under pressure.

They were impressed, in particular, by the performance of Colin Hawkins, the 21-year-old Galway man who, in tandem with Packie Lynch, was magnificent in nullifying the threat presented by Henrik Larssen and Harald Brattbakk. In dominating everybody and everything in the penalty area, Hawkins was delivering on the form he had shown in the World Under-20 Championship in Malaysia last summer and on this form he is not a million miles from senior international status and the honour of becoming the first League of Ireland player in 12 years to appear in the national team.

"We may have won the respect of the football public, but we have still to win the tie," Pat Dolan reminded everybody afterwards. "That is still a huge task, but I think it's reasonable to say that we have the ability to do so."

If they succeed, the rewards will be enormous. For one thing, victory over Celtic would guarantee them the significant consolation prize of a place in the first round of the UEFA Cup if they went out to Zagreb.

Progress to the Champions' League proper would net them £1 million plus and the prospect of hosting some of the most illustrious clubs in Europe in Dublin. "It's almost too big to contemplate," said Dolan. "And at this point, I prefer to concentrate on the job of beating Celtic next Wednesday."

All 9,000 tickets for the game have been pre-sold with almost half of them going to Celtic. Given the hype building around the fixture it is not fanciful to say that St Patrick's could have sold out Lansdowne Road for the fixture, but that, unfortunately, is not an option at this late stage.

Shelbourne, who flirted with the biggest success in their history only to throw it away in a disastrous last half hour in their 5-3 UEFA Cup defeat by Rangers at Prenton Park, now find themselves preparing for another stormy assignment in the return game at Ibrox Park next Wednesday.

Merseyside police yesterday rejected criticism that they had over-reacted in quelling disturbances amongst Scottish supporters before the game, but already their Scottish counterparts are making provisions for similar security measures at Ibrox.

Dermot Keely may be helped in that match by the return from injury of Stephen Geoghegan, but the evidence of the first game suggests that his real problem is at the other end of the team - making a mockery of their excellent defensive record of last season. "We made mistakes on Wednesday which we are unlikely to repeat, and having put three past them in the first game, I believe that we are good enough to give it another real go at Ibrox," he said.