Thursday 29 June 2017 23:01, UK
League of Ireland runners-up Cork started their campaign strongly as they won 2-0 against 10-man Levadia Tallinn in Estonia, with Garry Buckley and Steven Beattie grabbing the goals.
Gary Shaw scored the only goal as Shamrock won 1-0 away at Icelandic side Stjarnan but Derry could not make it a trio of wins as they crashed to a 6-1 loss at FC Midtjylland of Denmark.
Northern Ireland also have three representatives in the first-round qualifiers, with Crusaders winning 3-1 at home to Liepaja of Latvia as Philip Lowry, Michael Carvill and Jordan Owens struck.
Elsewhere, Coleraine were hammered 7-0 away to Norwegian side Haugesund, with Ballymena United also losing to Scandinavian opposition with a 3-0 defeat at Odd.
Welsh Premier League side Connah's Quay recorded an impressive 1-0 win over HJK Helsinki as Nathan Woolfe scored the only goal in Nantporth.
Meanwhile Bangor and Bala Town both lost narrowly, the former beaten 1-0 at Lyngby as Bron Blume scored.
Chris Venables scored for Bala to keep their hopes of progression alive despite a 2-1 home defeat to Liechtenstein Cup winners Vaduz.
