Cork City manager John Cotter sees the positives and negatives of a Europa League draw that leaves the club in the dark as to whether they will play Luxembourg’s Progres Niederkorn or European debutants Cardiff Metropolitan University FC until they complete their preliminary round second leg on July 4.

There will be no marquee meeting with Celtic for Cork City in the first round of the Champions League but Ireland’s title-holders will still face tough opposition when the pairings are finalised at the draw in Switzerland this morning.

SSE Airtricity League of Ireland leaders Cork City will today learn their Europa League opponent for the first qualifying round.

It was a telling reminder of how far they’d come, but also of their apparent place in the game. At the end of Gibraltar’s 7-0 defeat to Poland back in September, the tiny territory’s players obviously went to swap shirts with the opposition.