Exactly how domestic soccer is doing now is difficult to ascertian.

Wednesday changed everything. Hours before Cork City secured an historic victory in Cyprus against national champions Apollon Limassol, confirmation came that Dublin City had resigned from the league with immediate effect.

The consequences had a significant bearing on the fortunes of the southern club.

Cork City left Ireland earlier this week as league leaders and bizarrely returned on Thursday in fourth place , without a ball being kicked in their absence - the six points they secured with wins over Dublin City deducted from their league total.

"The loss of the points is a serious blow to us, " said manager Damien Richardson, "but the loss of Dublin City is an even bigger blow to the league. I'm very disappointed they can just walk away like that and they've set the whole league back an awful lot."

Richardson put forward the valid argument that instead of taking back points already gained from victories over Dublin City, the league should have awarded full points to those clubs who have yet to fulfil the Dublin fixture; a suggestion that has fallen on deaf ears.

In a week littered with a number of talking points, it's not the only dispute he's involved in. On his return from Cyprus, Richardson received a text message from a league official informing him that two of his players, Joe Gamble and Dan Murphy, had been red carded in Cyprus after the final whistle.

"It was the first I'd heard of it and the first the lads had heard of it, " he says. "When we heard they were cited by the referee for striking an opponent we couldn't believe it, it simply never happened and I've got photographic evidence to prove it which I'll be forwarding to Uefa. It's rare for the authorities to overturn a red card but we still want to put our point across that we weren't involved in any of the trouble after the game. Our opponents simply couldn't handle the disappointment of losing in a professional manner. All of this means that the two lads could miss the next round and they're devastated because of that."

The 2-1 aggregate win has not only propelled Cork City to the next stage of Europe's premier competition, it has also vindicated the detailed preparation that went into the trip.

Last weekend, as the country baked in a heat wave, the players trained in Cork's midday sun with heavy tracksuit tops on. Anything to replicate the hot, muggy conditions they were to encounter.

They took 1,000 bottles of water and energy drinks on the trip and at half time changed into a new kit that was stored in a cooler.

"I was delighted with our mental and physical performance. On the hour mark we actually grew stronger, which was great given the heat over there. When they scored the goal we showed great resolve.

On previous occasions League of Ireland clubs would have disappeared from the game at this stage, but we regained control and scored, and could have had another on the break. When you take everything into consideration, Wednesday night was one of the best achievements in Irish football."

There's a chance to surpass it now. Red Star Belgrade, champions of Europe just 15 years ago, travel to Cork this week for another engrossing tie. They bring seven Serbian internationals, as well as Ghanaian winger Haminu Dramani, who scored against the United States in the World Cup.

The task of advancing to the final qualifying stage of the Champions League is enormous, but the reward is an old giant of Europe before a home crowd.

"Red Star are one of the toughest opponents you'll get anywhere. We're looking to produce a quality performance and keep a clean sheet. Hopefully then we can get a goal from somewhere.

It's going to require belief and hard work."

The stock of football in Belgrade was highlighted on Monday when a crowd of 20,000 turned up to watch Red Star play a pre-season game. With the game against Apollon Limassol behind them, Cork have an idea of what to expect on the road.

"We're going from a volatile situation in Cyprus to an even more volatile situation in Belgrade, but really, these are the games you want to play in Europe. The away game will be one of the biggest tests we've had in the Irish league.

I loved every minute of last week's game, bar those seconds of madness at the end.

Situations like this you push you to the next level and we're now a serious stage of the Champions League. At the moment we want to concentrate on the positive side of the week just gone. We want to get something out of Wednesday and we'll need a performance that we've never produced before."

Their climb is steep, but at this stage, after days of incident in the world of domestic soccer, who's to say Cork City can't continue the trend?

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE SECOND QUALIFYING ROUND CORK CITY V RED STAR BELGRADE Wednesday, Turners Cross, 8.00 Live, RTE Two, 7.55