BOHEMIANS HAVE conceded defeat in their battle to have Graham Carey available for tomorrow night’s Champions League qualifying game against Red Star Salzburg.

Pat Fenlon had been hoping to have the talented young left-sided midfielder on the bench against the Austrians but club officials acknowledged last night the logistics of getting permission from the FAI to complete a new loan deal with Celtic, actually getting the deal signed and then lodging the various registrations required to ensure his eligibility for the match by tonight were simply beyond them.

The news is another blow for Fenlon who is already without skipper Owen Heary and midfielder Glen Cronin for a game which the Dubliners are hoping might yield a result that would provide the basis for qualification after next week’s second leg back in Dublin.

On the brighter side for Fenlon, Jason McGuinness and Anto Murphy both played some part in training yesterday having travelled to Salzburg on Sunday while nursing minor injuries. Fenlon doesn’t expect either player to be fit enough to start against the Austrian champions but both do now look to be on course to make the bench.

“The set-up out here is good and so far the trip has gone well enough,” said Fenlon.

“The two lads have made a bit of progress and to have them available to play some part on Wednesday would be a help at this stage.

“As for them (Red Bull), they’re a good side. We’ve seen them a couple of times now, I saw them play last week and then there was the friendly against Bayern Munich at the weekend which Dave Henderson watched.

“We’ve done other work on them too and I think we know a fair bit about them at this stage, we’ll be looking to get as much of that as we can across to the players over the next 48 hours.”

Valletta manager Ton Caanen, meanwhile, has revealed the first bit of intelligence on St Patrick’s Athletic he received from former Shamrock Rovers player Luke Dimech prior to travelling to Dublin on Friday to see Jeff Kenna’s side play Galway United prior to this Thursday’s Europa league tie related to finding Richmond Park.

“I spoke to Luke before I came over,” remarked the Dutchman, “and he told me that the ground was behind a row of houses.

“He’s looking forward to coming back and he is a real leader for us, very good in all areas,” he added.

The Maltese team did well in the first round to beat Icelandic outfit Kevflavik 5-2 on aggregate and benefited from the experience of former Manchester United player Jordi Cryuff, now a defender, who followed Caanen to the club from the Ukraine.

“Back when I was managing in the Ukraine we were both fellow countrymen in a strange world and we built up a good relationship.

“When I was offered the role as Valletta manager we came as a package. We work as a team.

“He is a very important player – my kind of player – we have similar ideas about football and he is the connection with the team.

“He can inspire young and old, even the captain of the national side who plays in our team.”