AFTER a week of intensive training in the plush surrounds of Carton House, Burnley will take to the pitch for the first time in pre-season tonight.

The Clarets will head back towards Dublin this afternoon ahead of facing League of Ireland Premier Division side Shamrock Rovers at their Tallaght Stadium home (7pm).

For Sean Dyche the outing, against what will be very much a second string Hoops side after they were in Europa League action last night, is about no more than getting his players a bit of game time.

But that won't stop hordes of Clarets crossing the Irish sea to take in the fixture, with a few stops for refreshments in some of Dublin's many hostelries along the way.

New additions Charlie Taylor, Jonathan Walters and Jack Cork will all make their first appearances in a Clarets shirt, or for Cork the first appearance of what is a third spell at the club, but nobody is likely to play more than a single half of football.

"It’s not about easy or hard but it’s getting them a bit of game time and game feel as much as anything," Dyche explained.

"When you've been off over the summer it’s that little reminder, but it’s about fitness and wellbeing in the sense of getting back on the horse and riding it.

"They will play a maximum of 45 minutes, we’ve bought enough bodies to do that and if anyone goes down we’ll fly someone out if it’s needed."

A year ago Burnley got pre-season up and running with a friendly against Swiss part-timers FC Stade Nyonnais, in an idyllic setting on the shores of Lake Geneva.

This time around they have stayed closer to home and Dyche insists part of the planning was making it a game that fans could attend.

"It was part of our thinking that Burnley fans could make it," he said. "Shamrock kindly gave us a game, unfortunately they’ve got a game the night before but we knew that might happen when we planned the trip.

"But they said they would definitely get a game on for us. If you look over the number of years I’ve been here we try and do games that fans can get to.

"I know there’s been a couple of tricky ones, certainly in Austria, but generally we try and choose places that are accessible and this one obviously is."

The Tallaght Stadium will be familiar to Burnley's Irish contingent and with a crowd of three to four thousand expected they will be the main attractions for the fans

Stephen Ward spent four years early in his career with Bohemians, Shamrock Rovers' fierce rivals, and Robbie Brady revealed he had also played at the ground a couple of times.

"It’s a good game, it’s good to get the legs going and get some good game time, it’s a good time for both parties," said Brady.

"I’ve played there a couple of times, it’s a nice stadium, I enjoy playing there."

  • The Lancashire Telegraph is following Burnley on tour in association with Accrington Clarets Supporters Club