Champions League qualifying, first round, first leg: Shelbourne v Linfield, Tolka Park, Wednesday, 7.45pm – Live RTÉ2, Premier Sports
As the final touches were happening around Tolka Park on Tuesday afternoon, Shelbourne’s people were out in force.
The club’s co-owner Neil Doyle, chairman Mickey O’Rourke and chief executive Tomás “Mossy” Quinn engaged with the media before and after Joey O’Brien held his first formal press conference as manager.
They all sounded as excited as the 3,655 reduced-capacity crowd probably will when they cram into the old ground for Wednesday night’s Champions League first-round qualifier against the Northern Ireland league winners Linfield. The second leg takes place at Windsor Park in Belfast next Wednesday.
The Drumcondra venue has been a hive of activity this week as volunteers and staff were busy readying the club shop and manicured pitch for the all-Ireland tie.
RM Block
Almost everyone was present, all except one man, Damien Duff, who resigned as Shelbourne manager on June 22nd.
O’Brien choose not to mention Duff – his “friend forever” – by name on the eve of a two-legged affair that is worth €1.71 million to the victors, and a second-round meeting with Azerbaijan champions Qarabag.
The loser is guaranteed €960,000 and more Uefa prize money by being rerouted to a Conference League qualifier against either the Maltese or Lithuanian champions.
“To be honest, a lot has changed but a lot hasn’t changed, really,” said O’Brien, trying to explain the void Duff left behind. “It’s still the same sort of thing; I’m coaching every day, I’m out on the pitch every day.
“I had a great relationship with the manager before, I would have had a lot of say in a lot of meetings. So in a way a lot has changed, but in a strange way nothing really has changed, if you know what I mean.
“I pick the team now, I suppose, but again I’m picking the team with the staff and previously I was helping the manager pick the team.”
Seemingly, O’Brien used to play bad cop to Duffer’s good cop when it came to motivating the players.
The 39-year-old former Shamrock Rovers defender still refers to the fracturing of their 3½ year double act as “shocking.”
Shelbourne cannot afford to stand still and mourn Duff’s departure. Progress to the Champions League second round, by beating a Linfield side that recently lost its best player Joel Cooper to Coleraine, would greatly increase their chances of securing a place in the Conference League group stages, which unlocks an eye-watering amount of Uefa prize money.
Shamrock Rovers banked €6.391 million from their run to the knock-out stages of last season’s competition.
Shels have published losses of €3.5 million over the past three years, so the guaranteed €3.17 million for reaching the Conference group stages would make that expenditure worthwhile.
Since O’Brien stepped into Duff’s shoes, their form has improved, with two draws on the road and last week’s 3-1 defeat of Cork City.
“I think people from the outside look at our league position [fifth] and think we’ve been really bad, but if they looked at all our games we have dominated most of them,” said O’Brien. “We have not scored enough goals from the chances we have created and conceded really poor goals.
“But the quality of player in that dressingroom is a massive reason I want to be here and lead this team. It is a serious squad.”
What jumped out from Friday’s win against Cork was the sight of Mipo Odubeko calmly slotting his second goal in as many games following an 11-match barren spell.
Still only 22, the former Manchester City youth player has shown glimpses of being the best striker on the island, without consistently finding the net.
If Odubeko can rise to the occasion, there might not be much David Healy’s Linfield can do about it.
“In the last few games he’s been really, really good,” O’Brien agreed. “When he is on it, he’s a handful, sometimes he can be unplayable. So hopefully he is that over this tie.”
Considering that Shelbourne have the superior squad on paper and Linfield are in preseason, they really should take a lead to Belfast next week.
