Europa League round-up: Cliftonville hammer Barry Town while Ballymena set up Malmo tie

Cliftonville advanced to the first qualifying round of the Europa League with a thumping 4-0 victory over Barry Town at Solitude on Thursday night.

Goals from Conor McMenamin, Joe Gormley, Conor McDermott and Rory Donnelly saw the Reds to a comfortable win over their Welsh opponents, the first leg in Barry having finished scoreless.

The Belfast side will face FK Haugesund of Norway, who currently sit ninth in the Eliteserien after finishing fourth last year, in the next round.

Ballymena United are also celebrating passage to the first qualifying round as they held off the challenge of Faroese side NSÍ Runavik to win 2-0 on aggregate.

Goals from Leroy Millar and Jude Winchester had given the Sky Blues a 2-0 lead going into the away leg and David Jeffrey’s side managed to keep to a scoreless draw in Toftir.

They now face the daunting task of Swedish side Malmo FF, who competed in the group stages of the Champions League alongside Real Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain as recently as 2015.

Elsewhere, a late goal from Belgian striker Maynor De Almeida earned Progrès Niederkorn a first round date with Cork City as they beat Welsh university side Cardiff Met on away goals.

Moldova’s Engordany progressed with a 3-1 aggregate win over La Fiorita of San Marino and Gibraltar’s Europa overturned a 3-2 first leg deficit to beat Sant Julía of Andorra 6-3.

A second Gibraltarian team, St Joseph’s progressed thanks to a 2-0 home win over Kosovar side Prishtina, while Faroese side KÍ Klaksvik beat San Marino’s Tre Fiora 9-1 on aggregate.

Europa League first qualifying round (Irish teams):

Cork City -v- Progrès Niederkorn

St Patrick’s Athletic -v- IFK Norrkopping

Shamrock Rovers -v- SK Brann

Ballymena United -v- Malmo FF

Cliftonville -v- FK Haugesund

Crusaders -v- B36 Tórshavn