Preview: St Joseph's vs Bohemians - prediction, team news, lineups

St Joseph’s welcome Bohemians to the Europa Point Stadium on Thursday evening for the second leg of their UEFA Conference League first round qualifying tie.

In the first leg, Bohemians ran out winners, with second-half strikes from Douglas James-Taylor and Connor Parsons giving the Irish outfit a two goals cushion heading into this week’s match.

Match preview

After a third consecutive runners-up finish in the 2025-26 Gibraltar National League campaign, St Joseph’s booked their place in the Conference League qualifying rounds once again for the upcoming season.

However, after narrowly missing out on top spot in the previous two campaigns to Lincoln Red Imps, who have won the title in each of the latest eight full seasons, Javi Munoz’s men will be disappointed with their tame challenge in 2025-26, finishing nine points behind the champions.

The Saints have reached the qualifying stage of the Conference League in every season since the competition’s introduction in 2021, but have never made it to the main tournament, reaching a club-best second round appearance on two occasions.

Facing the extremely difficult task of overturning a two goal deficit on Thursday evening, St Joseph’s will also not be enthused by their recent record against Irish teams, losing 4-0 on aggregate to Shamrock Rovers in last season’s second qualifying round after falling to a 3-2 defeat against Shelbourne the year prior.

Following an excellent finish to the 2025-26 campaign, winning each of their final four Irish Premier Division matches, Bohemians earned a spot back in European competition for the first time in five years ahead of next season.

The Gypsies last appeared on the continent in the 2021-22 season, booking their place in the inaugural Conference League campaign, but narrowly missed out on competing in the main tournament, being knocked out by Greek side PAOK FC in the third qualifying round.

However, after placing fourth in the league on 54 points last season, their highest finish since the 2020 campaign, Alan Reynolds’s side will be confident that they can go even further on this occasion and play in the main stages of a European tournament for the first time in the club’s history.

Looking to extend their winning and clean sheet run to five matches, Bohemians are without a doubt the favourites to progress from Thursday's tie, but will certainly have to be cautious of the attacking firepower that their opponents hold, with St Joseph's scoring an extortionate 96 times in only 27 league matches last season.

St Joseph's Conference League form:

St Joseph's form (all competitions):

Bohemians Conference League form:

Bohemians form (all competitions):

Team News

Despite defeat last week, it is expected that St Joseph's will make few changes to their starting lineup this time around, with Spanish centre-back duo Geovanni Barba and Javi Paul playing in front of Bradley Banda between the sticks.

In midfield, 35-year-old Juanma is certain to captain the side once again, while Pablo Rodriguez Moreno, who was the Saints' top scorer with 20 league goals last season, is expected to be the hosts' biggest threat in attack.

Sustaining no new injuries in Dublin, Bohemians look set to carry a fully fit squad into Thursday's clash, with skipper Dawson Devoy looking set to partner both Ross Tierney and Englishman Jordan Flores across the midfield.

Although he could only make an appearance off the bench in the first leg, we expect dangerous forward Colm Whelan to get the nod from the start alongside one of last week's goalscorers James-Taylor in the visitor's the frontline.

St Joseph's possible starting lineup:

Banda; Fobi, Barba, Paul, Valarino; Rosa, Juanma, Essamay Diedhiou; Francis, Cascajo, Rodriguez Moreno

Bohemians possible starting lineup:

Walters; Power, Hickey, Todd, Mullen; Devoy, Flores, Tierney; Vaughan, James-Taylor, Whelan

We say: St Joseph's 1-2 Bohemians

Approaching the final whistle of the first leg having conceded just the one strike, St Joseph's would have been quietly confident that they could progress on Thursday evening, however with a two-goal deficit to overcome, those chances are now looking slim.

While we believe the Saints will be much improved in front of a home crowd, it is difficult to see them overcoming Bohemians, who will be confident of carrying their rich vein of form into the next round.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.