It is the first step on a long journey Celtic hope will culminate with them enveloped once again within the riches of the Champions League group stage.

The problem is, despite reaching the knockout stage last term, the Scottish co-efficient has been so battered and bruised their efforts could not ease the weight of the challenge for this season.

Three qualifying rounds – six games – lie in wait for Celtic to grapple with before they can count themselves among the prestigious names that will go into the hat for the group stage.

Neil Lennon voiced a cautious warning last weekend when he told his team to take note of the threat Cliftonville could represent tomorrow night, and he was right to insist that his players can ill-afford to go into any of these games casually.

This summer's pre-season has not set the heather alight, although that all matters very little in the grand scheme of things.

In actual fact, former Hoops keeper Pat Bonner believes that may actually help rather than hinder Celtic.

"When things don't go too well at pre-season it is never worth worrying too much about, but what it does make you do is focus on the team and really think about things," he said.

"I'm sure this week will be spent with the manager and his assistants looking at how they've lined up in games, what worked, what didn't and what areas really need a bit of thought.

"It can work for you when results are poor because you really deliberate then over the team and the system."

Lennon himself was part of one of the great modern shocks when Celtic were humiliated by Artmedia Bratislava in a qualifying round for the Champions League eight years ago and he will not need to be told about the perils that lie in wait.

In all likelihood, there are few who would expect Celtic to slip up against the Belfast side tomorrow, yet there are all sorts of strange results that can come to the fore when players have not yet found their touch, when there are a raft of regulars out of the team and when your opponents are ready to fight tooth and nail for the prize.

It also remains to be seen what the loss of Victor Wanyama does for Celtic, while Gary Hooper, too, may already have played his last game for the club.

Bonner, though, says that those who have come into the side this summer have an immediate chance to impress.

"I know how hard it can be to play a game at this stage of the season with so much riding on it and you're not quite there yet in terms of fitness," he said.

"But, on the other hand, I felt that last season Celtic took a lot of confidence from the way they conducted themselves throughout the qualifiers and they took that belief and momentum into the group stage.

"Yes, they are without the likes of Wanyama and it remains to be seen whether or not Scott Brown is fit, but there is a good squad of players there.

"Beram Kayal has shown in flashes that he has ability and this might be a season for him to look for a little bit more consistency, while Efe Ambrose could also play in the middle.

"So there is much for the manager to be thinking about just now. I'm sure the next two days will be about how they are going to set things out and how they will approach the game but I do think they will come through this test."

Bonner was involved the last time Celtic played Cliftonville at Belfast in a friendly in August back in 1984. The game descended into a riot with bricks and all sorts hurled at the team bus as Celtic escaped Belfast at a time when The Troubles were at their peak.

For the most part – to an outsider at least – there appears to be an uneasy peace in Northern Ireland with flashpoints such as last weekend still capable of triggering ugly clashes.

While Bonner does not anticipate any trouble tomorrow night, he does think Celtic will know they can't afford to be anything other than professional and focused.

"I was involved in the game and things were a bit hairy, but we are thankfully in a different climate now politically, I hope," he said.

"Celtic know what is at stake. They need to go and get their mind on the job and they know that if they get through this then they are one step closer to the Champions League.

"The good thing about Cliftonville is that they haven't started their season yet either, so it's not as if they're that step in front of Celtic fitness-wise.

"A team from the Republic of Ireland might have already been halfway through their season and the same goes for a few other countries, so at least in that respect it's very much an even playing field."