Derry face Linfield in 'Group of Death'

Setanta Cup: Just short of three and a half decades after the two clubs last came face to face in a competitive fixture, a meeting between Derry City and Linfield will raise the curtain on the second annual Setanta Sports Cup.

The two clubs find themselves up against each other in what is by some distance the tougher of the two groups in next year's competition, the draw for which was made in Dublin last night.

Also battling it out to make the semi-final stage from Group Two will be last year's beaten finalists, Shelbourne, and reigning Irish League champions Glentoran, whose bitter rivalry with their Belfast neighbours will also generate some security concerns.

A more immediate worry for the PSNI, however, will be the return of Derry to Windsor Park on Monday, February 20th.

Supporters of the two clubs clashed on many occasions when Derry were still members of the Irish League and the game will comfortably overshadow the rest of an opening-night programme that also includes Shelbourne versus Glentoran, Portadown against Cork City and Dungannon's game against fellow debutants Drogheda United.

"I don't think that if you were sitting down to script this thing in advance of the draw you would have done it any differently," said Derry City chief executive Jim Roddy.

"Of course, there will be concerns but the bottom line is that we're in the business of playing football and producing entertainment for the fans to watch.

"These games have the potential to be wonderful occasions and while there has been trouble when the teams have met in the past, I hope that people have moved on from that. Whatever the issues are, though, the clubs will address them in plenty of time."

Linfield manager David Jeffrey was at least as upbeat, welcoming the draw and joking it was "what's commonly known as the Group of Death".

"Derry have had a great season, Shelbourne are a big . . . and then there's our old rivals Glentoran," he grinned.

"There's was going to be a huge appetite for this competition at Linfield after what happened last season and it will be phenomenal now. It's going to be a tough group, extremely difficult, but as champions we're desperate to hang on to this trophy."

The form of Jeffrey's side so far this season suggests they will be in a strong position to do just that,Linfield taking an early lead over their rivals after recording 10 wins and a draw in their first 11 matches while averaging just short of four goals a game.

Cork City, meanwhile, will find themselves having to travel to Portadown for their opening game of the competition almost a month before they kick off the defence of the eircom League title they secured at the end of November.

Damien Richardson, who has previously criticised the timing of the competition, observed that he might have to attempt to combine work and leisure early in the new year.

"Well, the way it's looking," he joked, "I'll be taking my holidays up in Dungannon. The situation is that we'll have to have the lads back in for the start of preseason training on the 16th of January.

"What with sorting out contracts and having a look around at other players, that's not exactly going to leave a whole of time for getting a proper break."

Still, Richardson will have been pleased to find himself in a group with the third- and fourth-placed sides in the Irish League rather than either of the top two.

The presence of Drogheda, who deprived Cork of the double by defeating them 2-0 in the FAI Cup final, in Group One may be less welcome.

While all of the dates for games were allocated last night, officials from Setanta Sport said they would sit down over the coming weeks and work out the best way to cover the competition. That could well mean kick-off times being staggered on some evenings or dates being changed entirely.