SOCCER: Cork City have narrowly missed out on a seeding for this season's Uefa Cup first round draw which will be made in Nyon this Friday.
The news, which was revealed by European Football's governing body yesterday means that the current league leaders are likely to face somewhat tougher first round opposition than the Republic's other entrants in the competition, Longford Town, who have been seeded.
City were unfortunate to miss out as the two Irish sides were tied in Uefa's ranking list only for Longford to be placed above Damien Richardson's side on the basis of having qualified for the competition as cup winners rather than runners-up in the league.
It means that while Cork could end up meeting fair-play entrants Viking FK of Norway or Esbjerb of Denmark, they are likely to come up against opposition from Finland, Latvia, Lithuania or Iceland.
Alan Matthews' side will meet opponents from Northern Ireland (either Linfield or Portadown), Wales, Estonia, Luxembourg or the Faroe Islands. The two Eircom League sides cannot be drawn against each other.
"I'm extremely disappointed to hear that we're not seeded because I had expecting that we would be," said Richardson yesterday.
"I would have thought that us finishing second in the league and what Shelbourne achieved in Europe last year would make the difference but you can't let it deflect you. At the end of the day, though, I'm glad to be in the competition so I'm not going to let this get me down.
"What it means, he added, "is that we're likely to face a better team sooner. Not too many of the ones we could be drawn against are exactly household names and it's hard to know what to expect at this stage of the competition.
"I could say that I'd prefer one club over another because of the country they're from or what they did against an Irish side a few years ago and then discover that they're a bloody great team so we'll wait to see what the draw turns up and then start looking at the task we face."
"I'd like to think that maybe some of them will fancy getting us because they haven't heard too much about us and then one of them will and they'll discover we're better than they expected but then I'd like to think that if we do our work and prepare properly for this we can beat any of the teams we can get drawn against on Friday."
As expected, Shelbourne's status as seeds in the Champions League first qualifying round was also confirmed yesterday. It means that the Dublin club cannot meet Liverpool but the pair face the prospect of trips to Northern Ireland (Glentoran), Wales (TNS) or the likes of Armenia, Albania or Belarus.
The second round has been pre-drawn so that those involved in Friday's draw will know who awaits the winners of their ties immediately although in order to make the numbers work a small number of second round line-ups are already known and Celtic will kick-off their qualifying campaign against FC Thun of Switzerland.
Richardson, meanwhile, has confirmed his intention to talk to former Waterford United manager Alan Reynolds about the possibility of signing for the Turner's Cross outfit.
"I'm intending to talk to Alan over the next couple of days although I haven't picked up the phone yet," he said. "I've a good midfield but you'd always like to strengthen the team.
"I'd like to strengthen it in every area if that were possible but as it is I have to look at my options and bringing Alan in is one possibility. He's a fine player so I'll certainly talk to him and see where it goes from there."
