John Martin the hero as Shelbourne record famous European win in Croatia

Irish Daily Mirror

3 days ago

John Martin was the hero with his header sealing a second-half comeback as Shelbourne recorded a famous 2-1 over Croatian giants Rijeka in the first-leg of their Europa League third qualifying round clash.
Played at Stadion Rujevica, the temporary home of Rijeka while their stadium gets redeveloped, Shelbourne came into Wednesday night's tie as massive underdogs with some bookmakers pricing the Irish champions at 12/1 to win in Croatia.
11 draws have curtailed Shelbourne's Premier Division title defence and led to the departure of Damien Duff earlier this Summer. A draw would have been an excellent result on Wednesday at the temporary home of the Croatian champions, who got their title defence under way with a win last weekend.
Manager Joey O'Brien insisted earlier in the week that his team weren't thinking of 'plan b' scenarios as a rematch with Linfield looms in the event that Shels fail to progress through this tie. O'Brien was forced into 'plan b' early in the match however, with striker Sean Boyd pulling up injured and being replaced by Martin after just 21 minutes.
Martin's introduction led to Shelbourne's first bright piece of play of the night. The League of Ireland champions broke sharply down the right flank but just when things were starting to look promising, Kameron Ledwidge coughed up possession and Shels retreated back into their low block.
The hosts enjoyed the majority of the ball for practically the entire first period, but they failed to make much of an impression on the game. Ante Orec made a few decent sojourns down the right hand side, but his end product was lacking.
It took until the 45th minute for the Croats to finally heap some pressure on Shels. A left-footed Niko Jankovic drive stung the palms of Wessel Speel in goal. Two resulting corners were scrambled clear by the Dublin side and as the half-time whistle blew, a smattering of whistles could be heard from the unhappy home fans.
The game needed a goal to spark the tie into life and it came 10 minutes into the second-half in bizarre fashion. Speel made a mess of a simple back-pass, fouled Merveil Ndockyt in the area, and Jankovic slotted the resulting penalty with ease.
But within a minute Shelbourne were level. Kerr McInroy flashed a deflected shot wide before Shels worked a clever corner routine which saw Milan Mbeng head back across goal to set-up a simple headed finish for Sam Bone.
Rijeka were left furious as they believed their goalkeeper had been fouled. VAR took a look, but luck was on Shelbourne's side and the goal was given.
That dour first-half now a distant memory, both sides hunted the go ahead goal. Simon Butic forced Speel into an excellent save to deny a swerving, dipping effort, before Martin's rasping shot evaded the top-left corner by inches.
With 20 minutes left on the clock, Shelbourne hit the front. The lively Mbeng fed Harry Wood on the right, who fizzed in an incredible cross that was planted by Martin into the top corner to send the Shels supporters behind the goals into raptures.
The expected onslaught from the hosts came too little too late as Shelbourne saw out the game fairly comfortably. Rijeka huffed and puffed, but failed to create anything of note for the last quarter of an hour.
There was a last minute VAR check for a potential handball to keep Shels fans on the edge of their seats, but it was rightly waved away and the League of Ireland Champions will take a 2-1 lead into the second-leg at Tolka Park.