Historic All-Ireland Champions League qualification tie awaits as Shelbourne drawn against Linfield
SHELBOURNE have been handed an All-Ireland clash in the Champions League.
Linfield were one of five possible opponents for Damien Duff's men when Uefa made the groupings ahead of the draw.
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Damien Duff's men have struggled to defend their league title so far this campaign
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David Healy is a legendary ex-player too having scored 36 times in 95 Northern Ireland caps
Credit: Pacemaker
And the Reds were drawn against David Healy's side, for what will be a first European encounter between the sides.
But they have played each other in cross-border competitions before, most recently in 2006 when the Blues won 2-0 at Windsor Park and drew 0-0 at Tolka Park in the Setanta Sports Cup with both sides progressing from their group.
Shels' only encounter with a team from north of the border in a Uefa competition was when they were pitted against Glentoran 20 years ago.
With the away leg falling on July 12, the climax of the marching season, Shels were excused from the usual requirement of being in the jurisdiction at least 24 hours before kick-off.
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Instead, they stayed in Dundalk where officials from the two clubs dined together before travelling to The Oval on the day of the game.
Pat Fenlon's side won 2-1 in The Oval before a comprehensive 4-1 victory at Tolka Park.
Linfield - who will be without the suspended former Dundalk midfielder Chris Shields for the first leg - are the seeded team in the draw and won a record 57th league title by a whopping 22 points.
But Duff will not be unhappy with the pairing as the Blues have struggled to make an impression in European competition since throwing away qualification for the group stage of the Conference League three years ago.
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They were 2-0 up in the away leg against RPS but conceded twice in the last three minutes to draw 2-2.
They took the lead in extra-time in Belfast but were pegged back by an injury-time own goal and lost the penalty shootout.
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In 2023, they defeated Vllaznia of Albania in the Conference League before being beaten 8-4 over two legs by Pogon Szczecin.
Last year they were back in the Conference League but fell at the first hurdle, losing 4-3 on aggregate to Stjarnan.
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Shels got through one round in the same competition - in their first European campaign in 18 years - defeating St Joseph's of Gibraltar before being knocked out by FC Zurich.
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