A EUROPEAN game with a difference will take place in Dublin a week on Saturday.

Bohemians of the League of Ireland will host Sutton United from England’s National League – in the Scottish Challenge Cup.

If you reckon the make-up of the Checkatrade Trophy is daft, then think again. The Irn Bru Cup, as it’s known, takes entries to a whole new level.

The competition north of the border designed for lower-division clubs has already incorporated academy teams from the Scottish Premier League.

But now they have added an extra dimension by including clubs from the Highland League, Northern Ireland and the Republic, Wales – and even two English non-league clubs.

It sounds like a rework of the old joke about an Englishman, Irishman and Scotsman in a bar becoming a reality.

So Sutton and Boreham Wood have found themselves gate-crashing a tournament in Scotland.

Boreham Wood have been and gone after defeat on penalties to Dunfermline – just the 830-mile round trip for the Pars.

Amazingly they took over 500 fans, who treated their day trip to London as a “European” tour according to boss Allan Johnston.

Sutton had to go the other way for a 1-0 win at Airdrie, clocking up 844 miles there and back.

Now their reward is a trip across the Irish Sea for another taste of “Scottish” football.

Meanwhile, Welsh part-timers Connah’s Quay Nomads lie in wait for some lucky opponent.

In comparison, City’s delayed entrance into the Checkatrade Trophy against Everton’s academy side at Valley Parade tonight sounds pretty run of the mill.

David Hopkin was a past winner of the Scottish version with Livingston in its earlier guise as the Petrofac Training Cup in 2015. But he thinks it has gone too far throwing the doors open to clubs from all over.

“It’s getting beyond silliness now,” he said. “It used to be a cup for the lower league teams with a chance of winning some silverware.

“Now you’ve got to travel to Boreham Wood and Ireland and other places.

“It should be a Scottish cup competition but you could end up with a Welsh, Irish or English team winning it.

“I don’t know what the Scottish FA were thinking when they changed it.

“Perhaps they want to get these teams in to see how it worked between Scotland and England and maybe set up something bigger in the future.

“But it doesn’t make sense to me. At first it was okay and teams liked playing in it but what they’ve done now makes it difficult.

“If you’re a part-time Highland League team and have got to travel to Wales and Ireland to play in a game, you’ve got to take the time off work.

“You get drawn away to somewhere ‘abroad’ and players will have to take two days off. All right, you might have some of the expenses covered but not enough.

“It just becomes a hindrance. I can’t see why it still can’t be just the Scottish clubs like it should be.”

Hopkin was Livingston’s assistant manager when they lifted the trophy four seasons ago.

They won 4-0 against an Alloa side who had knocked out Rangers in the semi-final in front of a crowd of just under 3,000 at St Johnstone. A trip to Wembley next spring would generate significantly more public interest.

But Livingston, like City at the moment, needed a break from struggling at the wrong end of the league.

They had gone two months without a win prior to that victory which then set them off on a strong finish. Livi subsequently picked up 13 points from their final six league games to beat relegation on goal difference.

Hopkin added: “It was a great boost for us because at the time we were in the same situation.

“We were at the bottom of the league and it looked like we were going to get relegated. Then we won that cup and it helped us stay in the Championship that year.

“This competition is like the Irn Bru Cup in the early rounds and maybe people don’t prioritise the games.

“But once you get to the quarter-final stage, they become massive because you can see that chance of getting into the final.

“You can go and play at the national stadium in a cup final. Not many younger players – or even older ones – will get a chance to do that.”