Champions League: Shelbourne manager Pat Fenlon is guardedly optimistic of his side's chances of overcoming the challenge of Hibernians FC of Malta in the first qualifying round of the Champions League and thus set up a lucrative meeting with Portuguese club Boavista following yesterday's draws in Geneva for the UEFA club competitions.
Shamrock Rovers and Dundalk, as expected, face more difficult opposition in Djurgardens IF of Sweden and Croatian side NK Varteks respectively in the qualifying round of the UEFA Cup.
"Though I'm happy enough with the draw, I suppose it could have been better as Hibernians were the highest ranked of the unseeded teams we could have played, according to their coefficient," said Fenlon, who is content to be away in the first leg on July 17th.
In the UEFA Cup, Shamrock Rovers appear to have the toughest draw against Djurgardens who lie fourth in the Swedish league. Rovers are away in the first leg on August 15th.
Dundalk manager Martin Murray will get the chance to assess the strength of the Croatian league tomorrow week when St Patrick's Athletic play the return of their InterToto Cup first-round tie with NK Rijeka, the away leg of which is tonight.
Champions League qualifying round draws
First qualifying round: 1. Tampere United (Finland) v Pyunik Yerevan (Armenia) 2. Skonto Riga (Latvia) v Barry Town (Wales) 3. Portadown (Northern Ireland) v Belshina Bobruisk (Belarus) 4. Dudelange (Luxembourg) v Vardar Skopje (Macedonia) 5. Kaunas Kaunas (Lithuania) v Dinamo Tirana (Albania) 6. Flora Tallinn (Estonia) v APOEL Nicosia (Cyprus) 7. Zeljeznicar (Bosnia) v Akranes (Iceland) 8. Hibernians (Malta) v Shelbourne (Ireland) 9. Torpedo Kutaisi (Georgia) v B36 Torshavn (Faroe Islands) 10. Sheriff Tiraspol (Moldova) v Zhenis Astana (Kazakhstan)
Ties to be played on Wednesday, July 17th and Wednesday, July 24th.
Second qualifying round: Dynamo Kiev (Ukraine) v Winners match 1, Sparta Prague (Czech Republic) v Winners match 9, Club Bruges (Belgium) v Dinamo Bucharest (Romania), Boavista (Portugal) v Winners match 8, Winner match 10 v Graz AK (Austria), Brondby (Denmark) v Winners match 5, Maccabi Haifa (Israel) v Winners match 3, Winners match 4 v Legia Warsaw (Poland), Lillestrom (Norway) v Winners match 7, Zalaegerszegi (Hungary) v Zagreb (Croatia), Maribor (Slovenia) v Winners match 6, Winners match 2 v Levski Sofia (Bulgaria), Hammarby (Sweden) v Partizan Belgrade (Yugoslavia), Zilina (Slovakia) v Basle (Switzerland)
Ties to be played on Wednesday, July 31st and Wednesday, August 7th.
Qualifying round of the UEFA Cup (qualifying round): Glentoran v Wisla Krakow (Poland);Stabaek (Norway) v Linfield, Djurgarden (Sweden) v Shamrock Rovers, Varteks (Croatia) v Dundalk, Avenir Beggen (Luxembourg) v Ipswich Town
Ties to be played on Thursday, August 15th and Thursday, August 29th.
