A FAIRYTALE OF SAINTS AND ELFS; EIRCOM UCD v ST PAT'S, 8.00 Pat's dream of UEFA Cup groups after drawing Swedish cracks.

Byline: BY PAUL O'HEHIR

ST PATRICK'S Athletic have been paired against Swedish side IF Elfsborg in the UEFA Cup second qualifying round.

Having eased past JFK Olimps of Latvia 3-0 on aggregate, the Saints will have to raise their game to tackle the Swedes.

The Scandinavians are currently in flying form in the Swedish league, sitting just one point off leaders Kalmar FF in second spot after 16 games.

League of Ireland clubs have a long history of playing Swedish teams in Europe.

Spanning all the Uefa competitions, a total of 21 games have been played with Irish teams winning five, drawing five and losing 11. But St Pat's can travel for the first leg on August 14 with some confidence considering the Swedes were less than convincing against Linfield last year.

Elfsborg were held to a 0-0 Champions League draw in Belfast and only narrowly edged past the Blues 1-0 in the return.

And, in 2004, the Swedes sweated when seeing off Glentoran in the Uefa Cup, winning 1-0 in Belfast with a late strike before coming from behind to win 2-1 at home.

But this season, Elfsborg's European form has been pretty ominous, conceding just one goal in six InterToto Cup games before reaching the UEFA Cup.

Already on this European campaign they've seen off HB from the Faroe Islands (4-1), Hibernian of the SPL (4-0) and Bohs' conquerors FK Riga (1-0).

And manager Magnus Haglund also boats a number of Swedish internationals amid his ranks, with Euro 2008 participant Anders Svensson among the most prominent.

Veteran defender Teddy Lucic, who spent time at Leeds United a few seasons ago, is also on their books while goalkeeper Abbas Hassan was a Manchester City target.

Aston Villa were potential opponents for St Patrick's, along with Copenhagen, Brondby and Rennes. But Manchester City were in a different section of the draw.

But Saints boss John McDonnell admits he prefers pitting his wits against a team which the club could have some chance of beating.

"Getting a club that you think you have a chance against is probably better for us," he said. "Our club might have wanted a big club where they could make lots of money but we have to think about ourselves and try and get as far as we can in the competition."

Those sentiments were echoed by skipper Jamie Harris who bagged his first European goal at home to Olimps on Thursday.

"We want to progress as far as we can go," he said. "It's all well and good landing a glamour tie but they often end up with the Irish team going out.

"We've come on leaps and bounds in recent years and you want to progress. We want to represent the league as far as we can go.

"We have good quality, experienced players, players who can win a game for you on the toss of a coin.

"We also want to win a league this year, an FAI Cup and Setanta Cup but there's no reason why we can't compete on all four fronts." Whatever the outcome against Elfsborg, St Patrick's are determined to make sure they're back in Europe next year.

In doing so, they revert their attention back to the league tomorrow when travelling for a tricky tie against UCD at the Bowl.

Harris is confident the team won't get caught up in their European heroics and insists fatigue won't be an issue.

"It's always potentially a difficult one going to the Bowl, but players with European experience can drag us through that. We've to switch back into league mode." Ryan Guy (back) and Mark Quigley (ankle) should play. Gary O'Neill (groin) is out. New striker John Murphy could feature.

UCD, who remain in the relegation zone, are without Ian Bermingham. New signing Darren Meenan could start in attack.

CAPTION(S):

CONFIDENT JAMIE Harris insists his side can compete at home and abroad