Cahill reaches the threshold of legend

New record
The 32-year-old will establish a new appearance record for a player with an Irish club in European competition if he plays in his 35th UEFA club competition game against the Estonian champions at Dalymount Park in Dublin. "It's a big honour to break that record for an Irish player. You think of all the great players who have played for Irish teams in Europe and to have the record ahead of them is something to cherish, but hopefully I am not finished in Europe yet and I'd like to get a few more appearances under my belt this season," Cahill, who is involved in a 12th consecutive season in European football, told uefa.com.

'Massive attraction'
"If we get through against Levadia in the first qualifying round we would play [FC] Dynamo Kyiv and that's a massive attraction, not just for us but for Levadia too," added Cahill, who made his debut in European competition for Cork City FC in the 1997 UEFA Intertoto Cup. "We're not allowing ourselves to get distracted by talk of playing Kyiv in the second qualifying round, we're focused on Levadia and getting the results we need to progress."

Dramatic breakthrough
Having fallen at the first hurdle in his first five seasons in Europe with Cork, Cahill moved to Shelbourne FC in 2002, where that hoodoo followed him until the 2004/05 season, his eighth in Europe, when the Dublin side edged past KR Reykjavík and HNK Hajduk Split to earn a UEFA Champions League third qualifying round tie with RC Deportivo La Coruña. "I've had some great matches in Europe over the years," remembered Cahill. "I played against top players like Toni Polster and Henrik Larsson but playing Deportivo that year was a highlight. I enjoyed last year's UEFA Cup campaign with Drogheda – we drew 1-1 at home to Helsingborgs [IF] but lost to them in Sweden. Our team has a lot of players with European experience and hopefully we can carry that through in this tie against Levadia."