St. Patrick's Athletic midfield sensation Keith Fahey believes Irish clubs will soon be mixing it with the best of Europe in the UEFA and Champion's League group stages.

The Saints suffered heartache on Tuesday evening when they were knocked out of the UEFA Cup by German giants Hertha Berlin. John McDonnell's side were one step away from the UEFA Cup group stages but fell to a 2-0 aggregate defeat. With Fahey pulling the strings in midfield, the woodwork came to the German's rescue as St. Pat's were somehow held to a scoreless draw in the RDS.

However, Fahey believes it won't be long before Irish clubs make the breakthrough.

"Definitely we have closed the gap", he said. "Look at Drogheda. They matched Kiev over there. We are definitely closing the gap each year."

Fahey's team mate Damian Lynch agrees that the group stages are getting closer all the time for Irish clubs.

"We have to think that the group stages aren't a million miles away from us", he said. "In Europe this year, we have had six games, won thre, drawn two and lost one and we believe we will get better."

Next Fixture

Cork City / October 3rd @ 7:30pm
Competition: FAI Cup
Venue: Turners Cross
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Team	Pld	Pts
Shamrock Rovers	31	63
Derry City	32	51
Bohemian FC	32	50
Drogheda United	32	47
St Patrick's Athletic	32	46
Shelbourne	31	46
Sligo Rovers	32	37
Galway United	32	34
Waterford FC	32	34
Cork City	32	23