Swifts to play Vaduz and Reds could face Shamrock Rovers
Irish Cup winners Dungannon Swifts will face Liechtenstein side FC Vaduz in their first European fixture in 18 years.Rodney McAree's side enter the Uefa Conference League at the second stage of qualifying, the draw for which the draw took place on Wednesday.Meanwhile the winners of the first qualifying round tie between Irish Premiership European play-off winners Cliftonville and St Joseph's of Gibraltar will face League of Ireland Premier Division side Shamrock Rovers in the second qualifying round.Larne will take on FC Sheriff Tiraspol of Moldova or FC Prishtina of Kosovo should they defeat Latvian outfit FRK Auda in round one.Irish Premiership champions Linfield could face familiar opposition in the form of Qarabag if they overcome Shelbourne in the first round of Champions League qualifying.The first leg of that tie will be played on 22 or 23 July, with the Blues or Shels at home, followed by the second leg on 29 or 30 July.David Healy's side lost on away goals to the Azerbaijan side in Europa League qualifying in 2019 despite a famous Shayne Lavery-inspired win at Windsor Park.The loser of the Linfield-Shelbourne tie will drop into the Conference League second round and will play the defeated side between FK Zalgiris of Lithuania and Hamrun Spartans of Malta.Linfield draw Shelbourne in Champions League qualifyingThe ties for the second round of Conference League qualifying are scheduled for Thursday, 24 and Thursday, 31 July.Dungannon qualified for Europe by beating Cliftonville on penalties in a dramatic Irish Cup final in May.Swifts have twice played in Europe before, when they lost in the 2006 Intertoto Cup to Keflavik IF in the first round and in qualifying for the 2007-08 Uefa Cup, when they were defeated by Lithuanian side FK Suduva.If Irish Premiership clubs can progress past the second round of qualifying then they are potentially four matches away from replicating Larne's historic run to the League stage of the Conference League last season.
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