Shelbourne's status as favourites for the inaugural Setanta Cup will be tested for the first time on March 22nd when Irish League leaders Portadown travel to Dublin for the opening game of the competition's second group.

The clubs were drawn together yesterday at the Brú na Bóinne visitor centre in Donore, Co Meath, along with Cork City in the tougher of the pools.

In Group One, Longford Town will take on last year's northern champions Linfield, as well as Irish Cup holders Glentoran, who finished 23 points adrift of the Belfast club in the league.

After Packie Bonner and Pat Jennings had completed the draw, Longford boss Alan Matthews admitted to being pleased.

"I'd have to say that I'm happy to have avoided Shelbourne and Cork," he said. "We didn't want to be meeting clubs in this competition that we're going to have to play three times in the league and maybe in the cup as well.

"The teams we have been drawn against will be difficult opponents, though," he added. "The northern teams tend to be a little focused on attack, while down here we've been brought up the get the defence right and then build from there. That should make it interesting in itself.

"Whoever we'd been drawn against I suppose we would still be considered outsiders, but the draw probably makes it particularly tough for us as the Irish League teams will be at a bit of an advantage given that they'll be coming towards the end of their season. They'll be fit and mentally strong.

"We won't be using that as an excuse, though. It's an exciting competition, one that offers the opportunity to achieve something substantial very early in the season and we'll be ready for it."

Those representing the clubs from north of the Border made no secret of the fact that they see Shelbourne as the front-runners for the competition's €150,000 first prize (almost twice what the Dublin club would have received for winning the eircom League last season).

"We have a huge respect for Shelbourne," said Linfield player Pat McShane. "They've done wonders in Europe and we know all about how capable Pat Fenlon is. But we'll be really up for it. This is something that should have happened a long time ago and to us it's financially the equivalent of winning 10 league titles. It has the potential to be a great competition and we'll be desperately trying to win it."

Glentoran's Scott Young also identified Shelbourne as the team to beat. "They're ranked higher than us at the moment and we have a hell of a lot of respect for them, but there'll be no fear factor. We've done well this season (the club lie third in the league, level on 38 points with Linfield) and we'll go into the games confident that we can do well."

Publicly, at least, there is general confidence that the competition's 13 games can be staged without a repeat of the sort of violence that has marred a number of previous meetings between teams from opposite sides of the Border.

The first game in the tournament, which will involve two groups of three teams playing each other home and away with the two pool winners progressing directly to the final, will be between the two cup holders with Longford visiting Glentoran on Tuesday, March 15th.

Cork's first outing will be at home to Shelbourne on the 29th, while the final, which is likely to be staged in Dublin unless two northern clubs qualify, will take place on Saturday, May 21st.

Setanta Cup Schedule

Group A

March 15th: Glentoran v Longford Town; April 4th: Longford v Linfield; April 19th: Longford v Glentoran; April 25th: Linfield v Glentoran; May 10th: Linfield v Longford; May 16th: Glentoran v Linfield.

Group B

March 22nd: Shelbourne v Portadown; March 29th: Cork City v Shelbourne; April 11th: Portadown v Cork City; April 25th: Portadown v Shelbourne; May 2nd: Shelbourne v Cork City; May 16th: Cork City v Portadown.