Soccer Uefa Cup: Cork City will be aiming to break new ground for the game here when they take on Slavia Prague in front of a sell-out crowd at Turner's Cross tonight.

A place in the group stages of a European club competition would be a first for an Irish club.

Qualification would represent a major breakthrough both for City and the league, but if anyone doubts the size of the mountain they must climb then it's worth noting that in 48 years of competing in Uefa-organised tournaments, only one club - Drumcondra - has lost an away leg by two or more goals and still progressed to the next round.

Their success, over Odense of Denmark, was in 1962.

Damien Richardson might point, and with good reason, to the penchant tonight's visitors have for conceding goals - a knack they continued over the weekend when they blew a two-goal lead to draw their latest league outing 2-2 - as well as his side's strong form. But nobody in the Cork camp can be under any illusions about the need for a much stronger, more composed performance if they are to secure what would certainly be a famous victory.

"We gambled a little bit out there and it didn't work out," admitted Richardson at Turner's Cross yesterday afternoon.

"What we face now is a formidable challenge, not least because Slavia have a record of scoring in nearly every game this season, and while we're optimistic about the game, we're realistic too about what a blow conceding a goal would be to our chances of getting through.

"The way we would look at it, though," he continued, "is that we didn't play well out there but we still managed to create four or five chances.

"We're a decent side: we've shown that in the league here and in our European games so far and we need to demonstrate it again in this game.

"The first goal will be crucial," said Richardson, who missed the first leg through illness.

The City boss is not wrong there. If Slavia Prague score first then City would have to commit themselves with almost complete abandon to get back into the tie.

In such a scenario a repeat of the last meeting between these two, when Slavia won 4-0 in Cork after arriving with a 2-0 lead, would be at least as likely as the home side rescuing themselves.

If City, however, can get a goal with a reasonable amount of time left on the clock then they are in with a shout, for Slavia's defence consistently looked vulnerable in the first leg: which might have had much more bearing on the result had the visitors not had one or two problems of their own.

Richardson said yesterday that he still had one decision to make with regard to his starting line-up, but he is expected to start with the same 11 that played in Prague.

That means no place from the outset for Greg O'Halloran, whose omission from the team for the first game looked to have been a costly mistake.

The former under-21 international has been at his most influential for City this season while playing in the centre of midfield, where his defensive ability allows George O'Callaghan to wander with a certain amount of impunity.

With a serious deficit to cancel out, however, it might be that Richardson feels the time for starting with the 25-year-old has now simply passed.

Whoever starts alongside him, a great deal will depend on the ability of O'Callaghan to open up the visitors and create chances for Neale Fenn and John O'Flynn.

There is unlikely to be much room for error when scoring opportunities arise, and there will be none at the back, where Alan Bennett and Dan Murray are likely to face another tough night.

Experienced striker Stanislav Vleck returns from suspension for the game and he is likely to be joined in attack by Pavel Fort, who was introduced from the bench during the second half of the first leg. Karel Jarolim, though, is without five players, including right-sided defender Petr Zabojnik, who started two weeks ago, because of injury.

The loss would not appear to be insurmountable, and Jarolim does have the whole of the quick and dangerous five-man midfield he selected last time to choose from again.

If they cannot be contained more effectively then City's task would look almost hopeless.

"It is," as O'Callaghan said yesterday, "for Prague to throw away and for us to make ourselves heroes on the night."

A combination of the two equations look to be required if Drumcondra's achievement is to be matched.

CORK CITY (probable): Devine; Horgan, Bennett, Murray, Murphy; O'Donovan, Gamble, O'Callaghan, Kearney; Fenn, O'Flynn.