Including substitutes, PAOK played 14 international players at the Aviva Stadium last night. Not enough though to get a result with Bohemians securing a 2-1 lead to take to the away leg next week.
At stake is a place in the final play-off round ahead of the group stage of the new UEFA Europa Conference League.
Getting the right result in Thessalonika would secure a €750,000 funding boost while further progress against the winners of Edinburgh club side Hibernian or Croatia’s Rijeka would bump that up to €2.9 million.
Bohs were well worth the result and led 2-0 up until the 77th minute in front of a sell-out 8,000 crowd.
Hopes would be high that the numbers for a possible game against Hibs later in the month would be higher again and the best thing is that this is more than a solo run for Irish clubs with Shamrock Rovers in action tomorrow night at home to Teuta of Albania and Dundalk travelling to Vitesse Arnhem.
Rovers would qualify for an additional bonus of €260,000 as national champions if they fail to qualify for the group stage.
After that, the prize funs delivers €500,000 for a win and €166,000 for a draw.
By comparison, the prize money for the SSE Airtricity League this season is set at €600,000, the highest level in a decade and on top of a guaranteed €215,000 for each club competing in the Premier Division.
It just shows the importance of European competition and the reason why smart investors are taking more of an interest in the domestic clubs.
North of the border, Linfield went down 2-1 at home to Luxembourg opposition last night while Larne face a trip on Thursday to Pacos Ferreira in Portugal.
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