Drawing opposition as formidable as Legia Warsaw was hardly the dream date Cork City had in mind in the Champions League but, while John Caulfield is not hiding from the difficulty of the challenge thrown up by yesterday’s First Round draw in Nyon – “probably got the toughest that was there” was his initial reaction yesterday – the City manager is still hoping that his side can subject the three-in-a-row Polish champions to something of a “nightmare” in the first leg at home.

Cork City are back within a point of Premier Division leaders Dundalk after they recorded their biggest league win of the season.

City fan Con told The Neil Prendeville Show on Cork's Red FM that they were pepper-sprayed for "no reason what so ever."

Turner's Cross was sold-out for last night's return of Champions League football to Cork, so you may have missed the stunning winner.

Your morning headlines:

Cork City have suffered defeat at the hands of Legia Warsaw in Turners Cross.

City are embarking on their first Champions League campaign in 12 years.

“Our fans will love going to Warsaw and we’re looking forward to the challenge.”

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.

For a player conversant with numbers, Dundalk’s Robbie Benson knows he still has many years left in his footballing career.

Dundalk manager Stephen Kenny felt his team defended poorly as they bowed out of the Europa League with a 2-1 loss to Maccabi Tel Aviv in Netanya.

One defeat doesn’t define Dundalk’s remarkable season even if, with so much at stake, last night’s 2-1 loss to Maccabi Tel Aviv is bound to leave Stephen Kenny and his players with an acute sense of deflation at the end of their European dream.

Bayern Munich opened up a two-point advantage at the top of the Bundesliga today, with RB Leipzig in hot pursuit after a convincing win in Hamburg.

It’s been a week of hotshots and superlatives to add to the store of good things in Irish football in 2016.

Dundalk manager Stephen Kenny says he has no regrets about missing out on glamour opposition as yesterday’s Europa League draw placed the Irish champions in a testing and long-haul group comprising Russian giants Zenit St Petersburg, Dutch side AZ Alkmaar and Israel’s Maccabi Tel Aviv.

Pep Guardiola will return to Barcelona with Manchester City as well as tackling Scottish giants Celtic after being handed a tough Champions League draw.

Cork City will be hoping for more joy against Longford Town at senior level tonight after it was confirmed the club’s U19s are to become the first Irish side to compete in the UEFA Youth League.

Ireland’s football trendsetter across so many eras, writes Liam Mackey

Pep Guardiola will return to Barcelona with Manchester City after his new club were paired with the Catalan giants in the Champions League.

Dundalk’s Champions League dream might have ended in Poland on Tuesday night but their hopes of making a further impression in Europe have only just begun, according to striker David McMillan.

Dundalk’s 3-0 victory over BATE Borisov in Tallaght was widely acclaimed as perhaps the best ever performance and result by an Irish club in European competition.

A disparity in resources off the pitch was eventually mirrored by those on the Lansdowne Road turf.

The talk has been all about Dundalk on the brink of making history but, actually, full-back Dane Massey has been in precisely this place before: that is to say, at Lansdowne Road for the first of two games which might have propelled Irish football into the group stages of the Champions League.

The standard line from footballers is that you treat every game the same but, with the best wishes of Martin O’Neill ringing in their ears, the news that President Michael D. Higgins will be in attendance and, as of yesterday, around 23,000 tickets already sold, there’s no escaping the reality that the footballers of Dundalk will be contesting the highest stakes match of their lives when they take to the Aviva Stadium pitch to play Legia Warsaw in their Champions League play-off first leg tomorrow evening.

THE quote of the week had to be Stephen Kenny describing the luminous moment in Tallaght Stadium on Tuesday night when Robbie Benson’s clinical finish found the back of the net, sealing Dundalk’s stunning 3-0 victory over BATE Borisov and taking the club to the giddy heights of a play-off for a place in the group stages of the Champions League.

Stephen Kenny will be in Poland tomorrow to watch Legia Warsaw host Piast Gliwice as Dundalk accelerate preparations for their huge Champions League play-off games against the Polish champions at Aviva Stadium on August 17 and in Warsaw on August 23.

Dundalk's David McMillan has revealed the extent to which becoming the first Irish club to reach the Champions League could transform their fortunes.

Tottenham 2  Qarabag 1 Europa League Group J

Back before Chelsea’s own results got really ominous for Jose Mourinho, the Portuguese issued his own ominous warning for the Premier League as regards their Champions League results. The Stamford Bridge boss had been asked about the fact the domestic competition still wasn’t going to alter fixtures to accommodate clubs playing in Europe.

Celtic have the prospect of facing Robin van Persie and Nani’s new side Fenerbahce plus Ajax and Molde from Norway in Group A after they were drawn together in the Europa League group stages.

Southampton 1 FC Midtjylland 1

Arsenal goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny has joined Serie A title hopefuls Roma on a season-long loan deal.