Seán Boyd to miss Shelbourne's Europa League tie against Rijeka
Boyd started the first-leg in Rijeka last week but the 27-year-old had to be replaced by John Martin after 19 minutes. Martin scored the winner in a famous 2-1 result that means Shelbourne only need a draw at Tolka Park to secure group stage football.
'Kick in the calf [in Croatia] that swelled up,' confirmed Joey O'Brien, the Shelbourne manager. 'Strange one. He is finding it hard to walk and with the quick turnaround he won't be available.
'He started the game really well last week. John Martin came on and done really well. I keep going back to the strength of the squad. That was an example of it.'
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Martin scored a second header in as many days to secure a 2-2 draw with Bohemians at Tolka Park on Saturday.
Progress from the Europa League third qualifying round, to face the winners of POAK (Greece) or Wolfsberger (Austria) in a play-off would guarantee O'Brien's team group stage football this season as they will be redirected to the Uefa Conference League if they lose the Europa play-off.
If Rijeka reverse the 2-1 deficit at Tolka, Shels will face the winners of Linfield (Northern Ireland) and Vikingur in a two-legged Conference League play-off on August 21st and 28th.
Progress to the Europea League proper would earn the League of Ireland champions at least €4.31 million in prize money. That figure drops to €3.17 million for reaching the Conference League.
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EXCLUSIVE: I trained with an EFL team - I almost fainted and the drills were so complex, it's a far-cry from Sunday League Frank, who jokes the description of his fame should be used "loosely", explained: "I have had a few companies that have got into contact with things like curl creams and there are a few more talks with other hair brands. "There are a lot of barbers who do get in contact. They would love to be involved in some way, but it's tough to know what day (cutting it off) that will be... "Every interaction I've had has been positive. I'm living in Spain, where I don't think as many people know me, but there are still a few who come up to take photos with me, and when I visit England it's a different world. Advertisement "I went to the United-Lyon game - seriously the best game I've been to live and I'm not sure it will ever be beaten - and I reckon while I was there I probably took over 200 photos with different people." At the latest measurement, Frank revealed his hair is 18cm long. However, that is still not long enough for the perfect ending Frank is planning when he is eventually able to say goodbye to his now iconic curly locks. Frank told SunSport he has been raising money for the charity MindUK, even doing an ice bucket challenge earlier in the summer. When United do eventually manage to win five games in a row, he aims to cut it off at Old Trafford and plans to donate the money raised from his freshly sheared hair to the Little Princess Trust. Advertisement 14 Frank revealed his hair has been a real struggle to live with in the heat of Spain this summer Credit: Instagram / theunitedstrand 14 He has shared videos of his hair taking hours to dry naturally Credit: Instagram / theunitedstrand 14 Curl cream companies have approached him to help calm his hair down during the challenge Credit: Instagram / theunitedstrand 14 The time it takes to manage his hair has made it a real struggle to deal with this summer Credit: Instagram / theunitedstrand Also speaking about the reaction of his loved ones to his challenge, he explained: "Everyone's just supportive and laughing along with everyone else. Advertisement "Nothing has changed there, they know I'm committed until the end and so they have to be too… "That's been the plan [to donate to charity] for quite a while, if it gets long enough. But believe it or not, it isn't long enough to donate yet. 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Advertisement "I really like Amorim, but I do think my one criticism of him - the same of Ange [Postecoglou] when he was at Spurs - is this obsession with one system. "I don't think one size fits all is possible in football. I would like to see different ideas. I completely get it's the main system, but it would be nice to see every now and then, 'oh hang on a minute, we're doing something different for this game'." United start the season against Arsenal, who Frank reckons are beatable on the opening day at Old Trafford despite his expectation for them to be a tough customer. If you want to donate to The United Strand's JustGiving page for MindUK, CLICK HERE.
