Stephen Bradley had no complaints about the luck of the draw after his Shamrock Rovers side discovered their Champions League qualifying fate.

The Hoops will face Maltese side Floriana in the first round of qualifying, with the away leg first early next month.

Winning the first-round tie would be pivotal for Shamrock Rovers as two aggregate wins in qualifying this summer will guarantee a minimum of league phase football in the third tier Conference League for a third season in a row.

And manager Bradley was pleased that they had avoided more far flung destinations for their first hurdle.

"What's good is that the travel isn't too far. We've been to Malta," he told RTÉ Sport's John Kenny after Friday's 2-0 win at Waterford.

"I know (Floriana have) invested the last two years, which is why they've obviously come up. But I'm just happy that we didn't get the long-haul draws.

"But look, we'll look after that when it comes round, but we've been there, we know the pitch, we know the climate, so there's a lot of knowns, which is nice."

The target remains playing lucrative league phase football yet again, he added.

"There's no shying away from that. We're at a standard now where that's what we want to do," he said.

"We set out to get group stage football, and this year's no different. We know we have to work hard.

"You need certain things to go your way in Europe. But that's the aim. We don't shy away from that. We at this club and this team, we're here to win and you're here to go group stages and that's our aim. Can we do it? Time will tell, but that's definitely the aim."

Meanwhile, he admitted he was glad to see his team come away from a "tricky place" as they got past bottom side Waterford at the RSC.

The Hoops took all three points thanks to goals from Dylan Watts and teenager Michael Noonan to maintain their grip on the SSE Airtricity Men's Premier Division summit.

Bradley's side had lost to Shelbourne at Tolka Park the previous week, while Waterford had closed to within five points of second-from-bottom Sligo Rovers after an emphatic 4-0 win in their relegation six-pointer.

But Shamrock Rovers ensured another shock would not occur at the RSC, leaving boss Bradley delighted.

"It is a tricky place to come. We've seen that earlier in the year," he said.

"We've seen in recent weeks since the new (Waterford) manager has come in. They play obviously very direct, they're very good, and they've two really good centre-forwards.

"So, yeah, a tricky place, but I thought we were very good, to be fair. I thought we controlled the game for the majority.

"They had spells when they got the second balls and stuff, but I thought if we took our chances it would be a lot more comfortable."

Bradley was particularly pleased to see 17-year-old Noonan getting back on the scoresheet

"Delighted for Michael. He's working really hard every day in terms of finishes like that, to be fair to him. And again, he looked sharp again coming on and gets the reward with the goal, two centre-forwards scoring, which is nice," he said.

Waterford boss Graham Coughlan admitted that Shamrock Rovers impressed him with their passing and control and that they "deserved the victory".

But he still felt his Blues outfit could have dealt better with the challenge.

"The thing that disappointed me with our lads is we didn't win enough individual battles and individual duels," said Coughlan who was upbeat about his squad's potential to extract themselves from the bottom of the division.

"It was probably one of those games where it's David-Goliath, you're hanging in, you're hoping, you're living off the back of a little bit of luck or a chance or an opportunity.

"We pressed them high up, we tried to be brave. We had three offensive players in Podge (Pádraig Amond), (Conan) Noonan and (Tommy) Lonergan on the pitch.

"So the team selection was brave. I didn't want to go defensively, I didn't want to go and sit on the edge of our box and live in hope.

"But at the end of the day, a little bit of quality won the game for them. The quality was on show.

"We weren't good enough on the ball, Rovers took their moments and their moments they put at the back of the net."

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Source: RTE