St Pats face trek to Lithuania, Drogs paired with Malmo

The draw for the 2013/2014 Europa League was made with St Pats facing a tie with Lithuanian side VMFD Žalgiris Vilnius. Drogheda United will host Swedish side Malmo while Pat Fenlon’s Hibs are provisionally drawn at home against Serbian side FK Vojvodina.

Glentoran have been paired with Isreali side KR while Crusaders host Norwegian team Rosenborg. Linfield and Drogheda United were in the same group but have missed each other with the Dankse Bank side facing a trek to the Faroe Islands to face IF Fuglafjordur.

For St Pats, this will be their first meeting with Zalgiris, the Lithuanian side have previously played Crusaders, Portadown and Lisburn Distillery in previous European competitions, but they have never faced League of Ireland opposition. The league leaders made it to the third round of the Europa League qualifying stage last season and on current form will be confident of replicating that feat.

Drogheda United recently faced Swedish opposition in the form of a Henrik Larsson led Helsingborgs but now they face Malmo who once were managed to won five consecutive Allsvenskan titles and two Svenska Cupen titles by a certain Roy Hodgson. That pairing however means that should Drogheda progress then they won’t meet their Turkish affiliate, Trabzonspor. Cork City fans will be familiar with Malmo, having beaten the Swedes in 2004.

For Glentoarn, their tie with KR is a repeat of the 2010 Europa League when Glens were knocked out by the Icelandic side, losing 5-3 on aggregate. Crusaders are another side that face familiar opposition, they were comprehensively beaten 4-0 by the Norwegians last season in the same stage of the Europa League.

Linfield are heading once again to the Faroe Islands having been held to a stalemate for three and a half hours against Tórshavn before progressing on penalties.