Far from being apprehensive at the prospect of taking on the holders, Home Farm have expressed sheer delight at drawing Cork City at home in the first round of this year’s FAI Cup.
John Hand, manager of the famous Leinster Senior League side, said: “We’re over the moon. We hoped for it and we spoke about Cork before the draw, because you want one of the top sides, but to have the holders, the league champions, who are going to be playing in Europe, these are the ones we wanted.
"They have great travelling support as well and it’s been a while since we filled the place, so to have this back at our club is phenomenal.”
Captain James Duff also welcomed the draw, saying: “I think in the cup, the main attraction for the smaller teams is playing against the bigger teams, and they don’t come much bigger than Cork City at the moment, so this is huge for us and a great day for the club, but we do hope to give them a fine game on the day, as well. We’ve got a few ballers!”
One of whom will be well known to Cork City and League of Ireland fans, in general, is the seemingly ageless Ollie Cahill.
Hand said: “He’s very important to us, one of the fittest lads in the squad, in fact, and he’s also instrumental in driving the young lads on, giving them that world of experience that he has from playing at this level.”
Reacting to the prospect of playing in Whitehall, a tight venue which the home club expect to be filled to its 2,000 capacity, Cork City captain Conor McCormack said: “Obviously, it’s a great bonus for the likes of Home Farm to draw the cup holders and the champions, but we’ll be fully focused.
"Like every football match it’s 11 v 11 and anything can happen, as we’ve seen watching the World Cup. It’s hard to predict anything at the minute, so we won’t underestimate any team, we’ll go into the game well prepared like we do for every game and hopefully on the day we can progress.”
The first-round will also see league leaders Dundalk host First Division side Cobh Ramblers at Oriel Park, while Shamrock Rovers will be away to Drogheda United.
Waterford will travel to Skerries Town and there will be a longer journey for another top-flight side, Derry City, who will travel south to play Blarney United.
There’s a local derby ahead for Inchicore Athletic and St Patrick’s Athletic, while there are two all non-league ties, with Dublin Bus set to host CIÉ Ranch and Leeds away to Maynooth University Town.
Blarney United v Derry City, Bray Wanderers v Finn Harps, Cockhill Celtic v Limerick, Drogheda United v Shamrock Rovers, Dublin Bus v CIE Ranch, Dundalk v Cobh Ramblers, Home Farm v Cork City, Inchicore Athletic v St Patrick’s Athletic, Maynooth University Town v Leeds, Newmarket Celtic v Cabinteely, North End United v Galway United, Shelbourne v Athlone Town, Skerries Town v Waterford, Sligo Rovers v Longford Town, UCD v Pike Rovers and Wexford v Bohemians.
All dates, kick-off times and venues have yet to be confirmed, but fixtures are set to be played on the week-ending August 12.