St Patrick's Athletic to face old foe in Europa Conference League as Stephen Kenny warns of task ahead
The Saints were pitted with the Lithuanian side who were runners-up in their league last year and again lie second in the current standings.
St Pat's will be at home on July 10 before travelling to the Baltics a week later.
Hegelmann are managed by former PSV Eindhoven and Dunfermine defender Andrius Skerla.
Skerla left the Pars in 2005, a year before St Pat's boss Stephen Kenny took over at East End Park.
But he does have previous with the Saints as a club.
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The former Lithuania international was captain of Zalgiris Vilnius when they knocked the Inchicore outfit of the Europa League in 2013.
Liam Buckley's side had claimed a 2-2 draw in Vilnius thanks to an 88th minute equaliser from Ger O'Brien, the club's current director of football.
That raised hopes of progression but the visitors claimed a 2-1 win at Richmond Park before going on to knock out Zalgiris Vilnius and Lech Poznan.
Last year, St Pat's finished the season strongly after a good European run when they got through two rounds and Kenny is hoping for a similar kickstart this time around.
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Kenny said: "I think it definitely helped us because the tempo and level you were playing and you were bringing that into your league form so it definitely was advantageous.
'But there's no guarantee you're replicating that. You've got to earn the right to do that.'
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Heglemann was founded in 2009 and named after a freight and logistics company. Their debut season in the top flight was in 2021.
Their best placing was runners-up last year and they currently lie second, a point off the top with a game in hand.
Their only previous European experience was a 5-0 aggregate defeat to Shkupi of Macedonia two years ago.
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Kenny's men have flattered to deceive so far in the league this season
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