Holders Shelbourne had few complaints after being handed a first-round clash with Limerick in Tolka Park at last night's Harp Lager FAI Cup draw. But representatives from some of the other big names, including Bohemians and Cork City, who meet each other in the plum tie of the round, looked less well pleased with the lot after the 32 names had come out of the hat at Lansdowne Road.
Being drawn at home, he admitted, against a team they have already beaten in the League Cup this season was a bonus for Damien Richardson, whose club has won this trophy for two years running. But Limerick boss Dave Connell was confident that his side could make up for that 2-1 defeat in October as well as for last year's 5-4 loss to Shamrock Rovers in the first round at Tolka Park.
"I was proud of our team when we were up there for the League Cup, it was as well as I've seen any Limerick side play over the years and I know they'll all be looking forward to this one," said Connell.
"We have a young side who are learning all the time and if we have the injuries and that which we're suffering from at the moment out of the way, then we'll be looking to cause a shock - we'll be going there to win."
There was somewhat less defiant talk from Cork City's assistant manager Liam Murphy who, as he reflected on his team's January trip to Dalymount, offered the fact that "at least we don't have any major transportation hassles" as one of the major plus factors.
City drew 1-1 with the Dubliners in their recent meeting at Turners Cross and although they are 12 points better off in the league, they will not relish the prospect of visiting a club with an impressive record in the competition in recent years.
"A lot of clubs have landed on their feet by the looks of things while this looks to be a tough draw for us," said Murphy, "but at the same time it's a big game, an attractive draw and everybody will know exactly what we have to do going up there."
Elsehwere, first-division leaders Waterford United, who knocked Shamrock Rovers and Drogheda United out of the competition last season, were handed another big match with St Patrick's Athletic having to visit the Regional Sports Centre to take on Tommy Lynch's side.
"It's like any other game," said Lynch "in that it's there to be won but it's certainly a good draw for us in that it should bring in a good crowd and earn the club a few bob. We'll be looking to beat them but at the very least, you never know, the gate might end up buying me a player to help with the push for promotion while our performance against a team of this standard will be an interesting yardstick of how well we are prepared for the Premier Division if we were to go up."
The rest of the draw, meanwhile, threw up just one other all-Premier Division clash, between Kilkenny City and UCD, as well one game between two non-league outfits, Fanad United and Whitehall Rangers. Other interesting ties include the visit of 1990 winners Bray Wanderers to Finn Harps, the clash of St Francis with old rivals Cherry Orchard and, most bizarrely, the first meeting of Home Farm and Home Farm/ Everton since the two parts of what had been one club went their separate ways earlier in the season.
"Neither of us would be particularly happy with it," said Alan Mahon, the assistant manager of National League side Home Farm Everton, "but if I was them I'd be really fed up because this is effectively the first time that team has ever reached this stage of the competition and to get us must be a bit of a disaster for them."
Sure enough a glum looking Derek Duggan, the Leinster League side's manager, was struggling to see the funny side of it all. "To be honest we've had four tough matches already just to get to this stage and this is the last thing we would have wanted.
