Linfield could face European rematch with Shelbourne

Irish Premiership side Linfield are in line for another potential meeting with League of Ireland Premier Division team Shelbourne should the Belfast side progress through the first qualifying round of this year's Uefa Conference League. The clubs were paired together in Champions League qualifying last season and were later drawn together in the Uefa Conference League play-off for a place in the league stages. Shelbourne emerged 2-1 victors on aggregate in the Champions League tie and then defeated the Blues 5-1 over two legs in their second European encounter. Joey O'Brien's side will face David Healy's outfit if the latter can overcome Nomme Kalju FC of Estonia next month. Shelbourne will have home advantage in the first leg against whichever club advances. Meanwhile Larne's potential opponents in the second qualifying round of the Champions League will be Serbian side Crvena Zvezda (Red Star Belgrade). The Irish League champions must first beat San Marino's Tre Fiori in their first qualifying round tie. If they lose that tie, Larne will drop into the third round of the Conference League. Irish Cup winners Coleraine enter the Conference League at the second qualifying round stage, where they will face Finnish team HJK Helsinki. HJK is the most successful Finnish club in terms of championship titles with 33, while they have also won 14 Finnish Cups and six Finnish League Cups. The prize for the winner of the Conference League first qualifying round tie between Glentoran and RFS of Latvia will be a two-legged tie against the loser of the tie between Qarabag of Azerbaijan and Vestri of Iceland. The second round ties in that competition are provisionally scheduled to be played on 23 and 30 July, following on from the first-leg fixtures on 9 and 16 July, although the final details of all matches have yet to be finalised. Last season's League of Ireland runners-up Derry City would face the winners of the tie between Qarabag and Vestri in the Europa League second qualifying round if they can get the better of CSKA Sofia in round one next month. Should the Candystripes be defeated by the Bulgarian team, they would come up against Riejka of Croatia in the Conference League, the team which knocked Shels out of the Champions League last year.