Barry turns attention to the league

Cork City manager Dave Barry will turn his attention to strengthening his team for the coming league campaign over the next couple of weeks now that a satisfactory InterToto Cup campaign is out of the way.

City finished third out of five teams in their group after drawing

0-0 with FC Aarau in Switzerland over the weekend and although Barry is happy with the 20-man squad he used during the four matches he admitted that he would be looking for one or two players.

"The InterToto Cup took up just about all of our time down here over the last few weeks and we were also trying to make sure that all of our younger players were committed to the club for the long term."

With the likes of Brian Barry Murphy and Noel Hartigan now safely resigned on lengthy contracts Barry says that former City defender

Stephen Napier is likely to be his first target.

"We haven't contacted Dundalk yet about Stevie but we will be doing so in the near future," said Barry who has also been linked to

Napier's Oriel Park team mate Joe Gallen and Waterford United's Tony

Hall.

Bohemians, meanwhile, begin their European campaign tomorrow evening at Dalymount Park when they take on Ferencvaros of Budapest, the leading Hungarian club of recent years, in the first qualifying round of the UEFA Cup.

Turlough O'Connor has two players, Brian Mooney and Paul Doolin, suspended for the match while James Coll is injured but Derek Swan is fit again after suffering a minor knock in a friendly match last week. Several of the players who suffered injury problems last season are looking forward to returning.

"Robbie Best, Tony O'Connor and Maurice O'Driscoll will all be back, that's the difference this season because we missed them for a long time last year," says O'Connor who admits that the European match has come before he has had time to strengthen the squad.

"We will sign one or two players before the start of the season, with maybe a midfielder and a forward, because you need a lot of depth if you are going to challenge for the league, but for the moment we are happy with what we have. The friendlies we have played have gone well, the players are well prepared and they are looking forward to it."

The Dubliners are likely to have their work cut out, however, against a side who, prior to slipping back on the domestic front slightly last season had dominated the Hungarian league in recent years and performed quite strongly in Europe.

The return to the Budapest club of Peter Lipcsei (from Porto) and

Otto Vincze has greatly strengthened the team's attacking ability.

Midfielder and team captain Elek Nyilas and Romanian Vasile Miriuta form the core of an impressive unit which tends to be reinforced out wide by attacking wing backs in what is generally a very positive team.

Meanwhile, the Republic of Ireland under-18 squad travel to

Iceland today for the UEFA Championships which get under way on

Thursday.

Brian Kerr's side, which will be aiming to repeat, or even surpass, the performance of the under-20s in Malaysia, start their group campaign against France on Thursday before taking on

Switzerland and Israel, on Saturday and Monday respectively, in their other two qualifying matches.