Eddie Gormley is likely to be assigned a pivotal role in St Patrick's Athletic's attempt to surprise Celtic for the second time, in the second leg of their European Champions League preliminary tie at Tolka Park this evening.

After implementing a strategy at Parkhead last Wednesday which put heavy emphasis on containment, St Patrick's manager Pat Dolan is now working on a more difficult formula - blending discipline and enterprise - in the hope of qualifying to meet FC Zagreb in the next round.

And he's looking to Gormley, whose boot was on much that mattered in last season's championship success, to lead the way to the biggest night in the club's history.

Stopping short of mentioning names, Dolan said: "It's one of those games in which we need to have everybody playing well, and obviously, we'll be looking to the more experienced players in the side to set the lead.

"Getting out with a draw in the first game was an achievement. But the bigger part of the job has yet to be done and it's going to require another huge team effort to complete it."

It was Gormley's maturity which enabled St Patrick's to survive a difficult period in the original game when the Scots were threatening to overrun the centre of the St Patrick's defence.

Now, he will be expected to push forward more often in the hope that the Irish team can poach an early goal and then retreat to the strategy which reduced Celtic to something approaching despair by the end of the game in Glasgow.

Dr Jozef Venglos, who has inherited the responsibility of building on Wim Jansen's successes at Parkhead last season, was circumspect at the press conference in Dublin yesterday. On one point, however, he was specific. Neither he nor his players had underestimated the opposition in the first game.

"Although some people were speculating that Celtic might win by seven or eight goals, I always maintained that it would be a difficult game for us," he said. "And I think we could be in for another testing 90 minutes at Tolka Park."

The same fears were voiced by Tommy Boyd, the captain, who will be hoping to distance himself further from that dramatic moment when he had the misfortune to knock the ball into his own net for the goal which doomed Scotland's hopes of upstaging Brazil in Paris last month.

"St Patrick's teamwork was tremendous at Parkhead and I believe they will again make it hard for us to get in behind them," he said. "It may all depend on our ability to score early. If we do, it will force them to come out a bit and that will be interesting."

Boyd said Tolka Park held no perils. "It has a good playing surface and in previous games there we got a lot of support from the crowd. We have no worries about playing there."

Shortly after settling in at their Portmarnock base, Celtic were on their way for a light training session at the match venue but, typically, Venglos said little about the likely composition of his team.

Apart from the injured Marc Rieper, whose place in central defence is likely to go to Enrico Annoni, Venglos has the option of using all those who started at Parkhead. There is some speculation, however, that Darren Jackson, one of three Scotland World Cup players left out of the original side, will come in as a replacement for the struggling Harald Brattbakk.

Brattbakk lacked potency last Wednesday but of greater significance to Celtic, perhaps, will be Henrik Larssen's ability to rediscover the form which lit the road to championship fulfilment last season.

It is not clear if Martin Russell, whose younger brother was killed in a road accident last Friday, will start in midfield for St Patrick's. Dolan said that he hasn't yet discussed the matter with him but insisted that Russell will decide if he should be considered.

In spite of some disappointing displays towards the end of last season, Thomas Morgan offers an acceptable alternative in midfield. And there is some reason to believe that Keith Doyle will be recalled at left back after being released from the first game to share in Ireland's European Under-18 Championship success.

Although Paul Campbell didn't do at all badly after a difficult start against Jackie McNamara, the consensus is that Doyle's return would strengthen the team and allow Trevor Molloy to take up a more advanced position on the left flank.

St Patrick's Athletic (Probable): T Wood; J Clarke, P Lynch, C Hawkins, K Doyle; M Russell, P Osam, E Gormley, T Molloy; L Braithwaite, I Gilzean.

Celtic (Probable): J Gould; T Boyd, E Annoni, A Stubbs, S Mahe; J McNamara, C Burley, P Lambert, R Blinker; H Larssen, D Jackson.