National League champions Bohemians reacted with guarded optimism after being paired with little-known Estonian champions FC Levadia Maardu in the first qualifying round of the Champions League yesterday.
In the UEFA Cup, Shelbourne have been handed the toughest assignment facing the domestic clubs as they meet Danish side Brondby, while European debutants Longford Town drew Bulgarian cup winners FC Lovech.
Should Bohemians beat FC Levadia, they will meet Swedish side Halmstads BK in the second qualifying round.
Levadia, from the subburb of Maardu in the Estonian capital Tallinn, have won their league for the last three years and are undoubtedly the top club in the country at the moment. Their record in Europe is poor, however. They lost 7-1 to Steaua Bucharest on their European debut two years ago. Last season they beat Welsh side Total Network Solutions FC 6-2 on aggregate before losing 9-2 to Ukrainians Shakhtar Donetsk in the second qualifying round of the Champions League.
"Being at home in the first leg gives us a great chance of going through against a side that would appear to be of a similar standard to ourselves," said Bohemians' manager Pete Mahon.
"On paper it's a good draw. What we didn't want was to have to go to Armenia or Azerbaijan, while we also wanted to avoid playing Linfield for security reasons."
Bohemians are at home in the first leg on July 11th with the return in Tallinn a week later. "I see it as an advantage being at home first and there is no question of us switching it," said Mahon.
"We don't know anything about them, but we intend to find out as much as we can. I don't think they had any players in the Estonia squad that played Ireland earlier this month."
Bohemians striker Glen Crowe travelled to Tallinn as a member of the Irish squad for that world Cup qualifier. "John Lewis (a former Bohemians coach) is another source of information," said Mahon. "He would know the Welsh scene well and may be able to get the low-down on how they did against the Welsh team they played last year."
Longford manager Stephen Kenny says he knows nothing about FC Lovech but is happy to have got the first leg of their UEFA Cup tie at home.
"I'm pleased to be at home in the first game as it will be an historic day for the club," said Kenny. "Being away first would have taken some of the shine off playing in Europe for the first time, so we have to be happy that the first leg is at Flancare Park. I'm especially delighted for our fans in that regard."
Lovech won the Bulgarian cup, beating FC Velbazhd with a golden goal in the final, after finishing behind them in fourth place in the championship. Velbazhd beat UCD on away goals in last season's InterToto Cup. Lovech have just this week sold key midfielder Dragoljub Simonovic to CSKA Sofia for £100,000.
Shelbourne's task of overcoming Brondby looks the most arduous. The Danish club are at home in the first leg on August 9th. Brondy, who have finished runners-up in the Danish league for the last two seasons, have a fine European pedigree, having qualified for Europe every season for the last night years.
They reached the semi-final of the UEFA Cup in 1991 and the quarter-finals of the same competition in 1997.
Two season's ago they qualified for the first group stage of the Champions League, losing 5-0 and 6-2 to Manchester United, who went on to win it.
"It's a tough draw, but we expected that the way it was seeded," said Alan Matthews, Shelbourne's assistant manager.
"On the plus side it won't pose a travel problem. We'll prepare properly and have arranged a week's training in Cyprus in the middle of next month."
The draws didn't afford the Irish League sides any favours. Linfield have been handed a logistical nightmare by drawing Georgian champions Torpedo Kutaisi. In the UEFA Cup, Glenavon may be happy enough to meet Scottish side Kilmarnock at home.
