Legia Warsaw’s superior quality sent Cork City into the Europa League and another possible big-name draw, but manager John Caulfield insists the focus will return to domestic matters.

City’s interest in the Champions League came to an end in Warsaw as the 3-0 loss to the Polish champions meant a 4-0 aggregate defeat in the first qualifying round.

The Leesiders will continue their European adventure in the Europa League third-round qualifier on 9 and 16 August, but reflecting on the defeat, Caulfield says that similar to the first-leg at Turner’s Cross, chances were spurned to cause a shock.

Barry McNamee, Karl Sheppard and Graham Cummins all tried their luck on the night, but Jose Kante’s opener after a defensive mix-up put the hosts in the driving seat before adding two more goals after the interval.

"The disappointing thing is they didn’t have to work to get the goals," he told RTÉ Sport.

"We gave them a very soft goal after 25 minutes and we were well in the match. We had opportunities to score and that was disappointing. Over both games we created quite a lot of chances.

"They kept possession well, but we were sloppy for the second goal as well. We were chasing the game at that stage."

The first goal was a hammer blow for the plucky visitors.

"At this level, when you play teams of this calibre, they will have more possession than you. It’s different to our own league"

Mateusz Wiesteska’s long ball over the top was hooked back across the face of goal and over the head of the stranded Peter Cherrie, allowing Kante to tuck the ball into the net despite the best efforts of the recovering Shane Griffin.

"At this level, when you play teams of this calibre, they will have more possession than you. It’s different to our own league," Caulfield said.

"You have to have your total concentration and focus. That’s what it was. A switch-off, a nothing ball. All of a sudden the guy ends up kicking it into an empty net."

Cherrie for his part admitted he was trying in vain to prevent the flick across goal.

"It was one of those things. I’m not giving him a free shot at goal. I had to do something, but it just didn’t work out for me."

Cork will find out their next European opponents on Monday, but for now, Caulfield insists that the Airtricty League will take priority.

"The most important thing for us is last season we won the league and the cup. We have a number of league games coming up as well as the cup.

"Whenever the draw for the Europa League is, we will see what that situation is, but all our eyes over the next month is on the league, starting with Derry on Monday night."