Prospect of facing Solskjaer’s Molde grips Sligo

Champions League fever in Sligo means there are now only 700 tickets left for sale for home fans for their second qualifying round first leg game against Norwegian champions Molde which, the club have confirmed, will take place on Wednesday, July 17 at the Showgrounds.

The Airtricity League champions may have missed out on a meeting with Celtic — that honour has gone instead to Belfast side Cliftonville — but Sligo’s opponents are hardly lacking in European pedigree, manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer knowing a thing or two about winning the continent’s premier club trophy from his days with Manchester United.

He has also previously crossed paths with Sligo boss Ian Baraclough, the pair having done their coaching A licence together at Lilleshall in England a number of years ago.

“It will be good to catch up again and pit our wits against each other,” said Baraclough.

Under the former United striker, Molde have won back-to-back Norwegian titles and, although they are struggling this season, Baraclough is under no illusions about the challenge his side face next month.

“I think when you are in the draw and unseeded, you will always face a team that will provide an extremely hard challenge and you have to be at your very best to go through,” he said. “But this is an exciting draw for everyone. The players will rightly be excited and, as I have said on many occasions, this is the stage they want to be at.”

In the Uefa Europa League, current Airtricity League leaders St Patrick’s Athletic were paired with VMFD ŽZalgiris of Lithuania with the away leg scheduled first, while Drogheda United will host Malmo FF at Tallaght Stadium. If Pat’s get past the Lithuanian side they will face either Fk Teteks (Macedonia) or FC Pyunik (Armenia) in the second qualifying round.

Intriguingly, should Drogheda reach the second round they would come up against a familiar face from the League of Ireland in the form of Hibernian manager Pat Fenlon. But first they have what boss Mick Cooke admits is the “tough task” of getting the better of the Swedes.

“Malmo are doing okay in the league at the moment and they’re in their season as well, so it won’t be a matter of getting a team that hasn’t been playing regularly,” said Cooke. “We’ll look forward to it and, financially, I don’t think it will be too much of a hardship on the club. So, all in all, I’m very pleased with the draw.”

The dates for the first qualifying round of the Europa League are July 4 and 11, pending confirmation.

Derry City were in the pot for the second qualifying round and probably face the toughest task of all the Irish clubs in the form of Turkish side Trabzonspor.

“We couldn’t have gotten a more difficult tie if the truth be told,” said manager Declan Devine.

“We will obviously have to do our homework on Trabzonspor but without having to look too hard into their side we know that they possess a lot of quality players with both English Premier League and international experience.”

Uefa Champions League 2nd qualifying round draw (July 16/17 and 23/24): Sligo Rovers FC v Molde FK; Celtic v Cliftonville.

Uefa Europa League 1st qualifying round draw (July 4 and 11): VMFD/Calgiris v St Patrick’s Athletic, Drogheda United v Malmö FF, KR v Glentoran, IF Fuglafjordur v Linfield and Crusaders v Rosenborg BK.

2nd qualifying round draw (July 18 and 25): Trabzonspor v Derry City, Drogheda United or Malmö FF v Hibernian FC, VMFD/Calgiris or St Patrick’s Athletic v FK Teteks or FC Pyunik.

Dates, home/away ties are subject to approval.