Champions League/First round draw:Derry City's stand-in boss, Peter Hutton, is hoping that today's draw for the first round of the Champions League draw will provide a much needed lift to a side that has so far fallen well short of pre-season expectations in the league.
"Hopefully news of a good draw will raise spirits ahead of the game in Richmond (Park) tonight and the prospect of playing in Europe again will raise morale generally around the place," says the club's long-serving defender.
"It's hard to know what to wish for in these circumstances. Some of the fans will be hoping for Linfield and others will want somewhere a little more exotic so they can build a week's holiday around the away game. Personally, I'd have to say a meeting with Linfield would be fairly mouth-watering, it's certainly not something that anybody around the place would need any motivating for."
With Derry having inherited Shelbourne's place in the competition and then failed to find their form at home over the past few months, there is some concern that some of the progress made by Irish clubs in Europe over the last few seasons may be undone this year, but Hutton is adamant he and his team-mates can rise to the challenge.
"Everyone feels that they've learned a lot from last year's game and we're all looking forward to having another crack it. We're confident we can do well."
City are seeded in the first-round draw and therefore avoid the more formidable teams. Among the 14 clubs they could meet are BATE Borisov of Belarus, Levadia Talinn of Estonia and HB Torshavn from the Faroe Islands. In addition to Linfield, the national champions of Montenegro, Andorra and San Marino are all also included in the unseeded half of the draw, having been granted entry to the competition for the first time.
The draw for the second round will also be made today with likes of Rangers, FC Copenhagen and Rosenborg coming in at that stage.
In the Uefa Cup, Drogheda United have been seeded but St Patrick's Athletic have not. Paul Doolin's men could face opposition from Wales, Luxembourg or Iceland while the Dubliners are most likely headed for Norway, Denmark, Sweden or one of the Baltic states.
