The local reporters had no idea. Joey O’Brien’s Shelbourne had just secured a 2-1 victory over HNK Rijeka in the Europa League qualifier on Wednesday night, with headed second-half goals from Sam Bone and John Martin stunning the Croatian champions to set up a fascinating second-leg next Tuesday at Tolka Park.
“Coach, do you consider this to be your biggest win in your coaching career?”
“My coaching career?” O’Brien responded with a laugh. “I think it is only my eighth game as a coach. I have not been doing it for too long.”
O’Brien was being humble. The 39-year-old decided not to include the draws Shelbourne secured in Waterford and Galway during his five days as interim manager after Damien Duff unexpectedly resigned on June 22nd.
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The former Republic of Ireland international also left out the three in a half years he worked as Duff’s number two, guiding the Drumcondra club back into Europe and last season to their first League of Ireland title since 2006.
Before that, the former West Ham defender played out his career at Shamrock Rovers before going directly into coaching on retirement in 2022.
Tolka Park can only hold 3,650 spectators next week, as Uefa have reduced the capacity from 5,700. The alternative was to follow St Patrick’s Athletic to Tallaght Stadium or make a giant leap into the Aviva Stadium.
None of this concerned a laser-focused O’Brien.
“In European football, whoever you play, that first half, players are feeling each other out. You see the speed, are they quick or slow?
“To give a boxing analogy, you are jabbing away to see what you are up against. Then you get into the flow of things.
“Next week? The players have a feel of each other. They are a really good team and still the favourites.”
The Croatian reporters were also up to speed: “Joey, are you prepared for a knock-out punch?”
“Ah listen, we have a good record at home, we always want to play on the front foot. It is going to be a really difficult game, we have a small advantage.”
This famous result was only available to watch on the Solid Sport streaming service, as no Irish broadcaster purchased the rights, while no written media travelled from Ireland to the Croatian port town. A travelling support of 200 also hints that expectations were not too high.
The expectation was that Rijeka would bounce Shelbourne into the Uefa Conference League playoff as they progress to the Europa League playoff, to reach the group stage, against the winner of POAK (Greece) and Wolfsberger (Austria).
Also, Ole Gunnar Solskær and Turkish side Besiktas are in Dublin for tonight’s Conference League qualifier at Tallaght Stadium.
If Shels progress to the Europa League they will receive a Uefa bonus of €4.31 million. The prize money drops to €3.17 million for reaching the Conference League, which would happen automatically if they lost their playoff tie by losing a playoff tie.
If Rijeka turn the tie around in the second leg, Shels will face the winner of Linfield and Vikingur (Faroe Islands) to secure Conference League football into December and potentially next year.
The club has already secured prize money of around €1.7 million for making it this far. Shamrock Rovers banked €6.2 million after last season’s run to the Conference knock-out round.
Shelbourne have had some special nights in Europe before Wednesday’s win in Rijeka. There was the 0-0 Champions League result against Deportivo La Coruna when Wes Hoolahan and Jason Byrne gave the Spanish side a scare in front of 25,000 Irish, and not just Shels fans, at Lansdowne Road in August 2004. Pat Fenlon’s team lost the second leg 3-0.
None of this matters to O’Brien who continually centred the narrative around the present tense.
“I didn’t really like us in the first half on our own possession, I thought we turned over the ball a bit too much.
“I think our shape out of possession was really good. In the dressingroom we spoke about the second half, getting on the ball a bit more and showing our quality. At times we done that. Still, I don’t think we showed how good we really are in possession.
“It is a real difficult stadium, really difficult coming over here to play this level of opposition. We don’t play this opposition, a team as good as that, in our league.
“I said it to the boys, European football, for me, when I was playing I always saw it as four halves of football. We have two halves to go, with a small advantage.
“The record of every team from our country away from home in Europe is not very good,” he added. “We have a good squad of players, it was one of the reasons I wanted to take this job, the quality that we have in the dressingroom, at times we showed that tonight.
“I still don’t think we are favourites to go through.
“It is a home leg for us. We have a good record at home. Still all to play for.”
