Shelbourne into next round of Champions League qualifiers as Joey O'Brien's men seal aggregate win over Linfield

The Irish Sun

16-07-2025

THERE was no tie at this stage of the competition with a shorter distance between the two teams.
So nobody should be surprised that it was decided by fine margins.
2
Shelbourne are through to the next round of the Champions League qualifiers
Credit: Ben McShane/Sportsfile
2
Joey O'Brien's men clinched an aggregate win over Linfield
Credit: Ben McShane/Sportsfile
Predictions that Shelbourne would stroll through were fanciful but, nor did it come as a shock that Linfield fell short over two legs.
They will have plenty of cause for regret, failing to capitalise on goalkeeping errors in each half with Ben Hall's dismissal effectively ensuring there was no grandstand finish.
But, still, this game did not lack drama with Chris Shields rolling back the years with a polished display on his return from suspension.
His pre-match good-natured geographical jibe out his car window to the
Road
served as a reminder that this was not your average
Read More on Shelbourne
Shels will feel it could have been more comfortable, particularly as they had a goal disallowed, but will feel relieved their opponents were not clinical enough to punish more of their mistakes as they secured a daunting second qualifying round tie against Qarabag.
Joey O'Brien faces an anxious wait to see if captain Mark Coyle and keeper Conor Kearns can feature in that after they went off injured in the first half.
Even before their departures, it had been a difficult start with just 12 seconds gone when Paddy Barrett pulled down Matthew Fitzpatrick off the ball.
Kirk Millar swung the ball in beyond the far post where Ethan McGee was well positioned to head it back across goal. With Shels scrambling, Hall could not punish them with his effort off
target
.
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Then, in the 13th minute, Kearns gifted Linfield a chance to level the tie when he received a back pass from Harry Wood.
He had a first bad touch and an even worse second one with his attempted clearance going straight to Fitzpatrick.
RTE pundit's one-liner about Damien Duff makes Joey O'Brien laugh after Shelbourne's win vs Linfield
The Blues
striker
hit his first-time effort wide when he could have taken a touch.
Shels weathered that early storm and began to impose themselves on the game with JJ Lunney looking capable of picking holes in the hosts' defence with some clever deliveries.
Twice he picked out Tyreke Wilson but a weak header failed to trouble Chris Johns and, for the second, he appealed in vain for a penalty when he had simply been outmuscled by Matthew Orr.
In between, Wood had failed to trouble Johns with a free-kick after Mipo Odubeko - scorer of the only goal in the first leg - had been fouled by Hall.
Midway through the half, Coyle - who had earlier picked up a knock - did not look too happy to be called ashore with Sean Gannon replacing the Shels' skipper.
Soon after his introduction, Shels took the lead in the 25th minute. Kameron Ledwidge's cross from the left came to Wood with his shot kept out by Shields' heroic efforts on the goal-line.
But, when McGee could head the ball only as far as the edge of the box, Shels made the most of their second chance as Coote steadied himself before rolling the ball into the net.
Shels lost another player to injury just after the half-hour mark with Kearns, who looked in pain when he picked the ball, coming off with Lorcan Healy coming on for only his fifth appearance for Shels.
He almost got as far as half-time with his goal intact but, in stoppage time, could not keep out a Shields' penalty, awarded for a handball by Wilson.
Shields had crossed from the right with McGee exchanging passes with Millar before dinking the ball into the far post. Wilson's outstretched arm prevented the ball reaching Hall.
The spot-kick was duly awarded and then converted but there was still time for more drama before the interval.
Shels thought they had retaken the lead on the night through a well-worked corner.
Wood played it short to Wilson on the byline who returned the pass with the Englishman picking out Kerr McInroy who had peeled off to find
space
before firing home.
Shields protested angrily and, after replays were shown/
The ex-Dundalk midfielder was marking Barrett but, when Euan East went to track McInroy's run, the Shels centre-half grabbed his
jersey
which explained why McInroy had so much space to
fire
home.
Shels might have felt aggrieved but they could have no complaints when Madeley disallowed the goal which would more than likely have stood if there was no
VAR
in operation.
DISASTER
Still, after a disrupted opening 45 minutes, Shels could be reasonably happy at the break, particularly as they knew they had a fitness edge on their out-of-season opponents.
But disaster almost struck almost straight from the restart with an almost carbon copy of the earlier incident with Kearns and Fitzpatrick.
This time, Healy passed the ball to Callumn Morrison but he was no more clinical with the goal at his mercy with the keeper sticking out a leg to keep it out.
Linfield also knew where the self-destruct button was and pressed it in the 65th minute.
When Orr passed the ball straight to Odubeko, Hall had little choice but to try a sliding tackle to stop the striker getting away.
He caught the man but not the ball and was duly shown a red card.
Shels could have put the tie to bed within five minutes of his dismissal when Madeley played advantage when Coote was taken out by East.
The ball went to Odubeko on the left who cut back and passed to McInroy just outside the box. He in turn picked out Evan Caffrey on the right who played a neat one-two with Wood but his first-time shot was just wide of the upright.
Predictably, Linfield found it hard to mount a salvage operation with a curling effort by Kieran Offord, comfortably dealt with by Healy, the best they could muster.
SUN
STAR
MAN
Kerr McInroy (Shelbourne)
LINFIELD
: Johns 7; Mcgee 7 (McCullough 77, 4), Orr 5, Hall 5, East 6, Millar 7 (Allen 83, 4); Archer 7, Mulgrew 6 (Offord 77, 5), Shields 8; Fitzpatrick 6, C Morrison 6 (McKee 68, 5)
SHELBOURNE
: Kearns 5 (Healy 32, 6); Caffrey 7, Coyle 6 (Gannon 22, 7), Barrett 6, Ledwidge 7, Wilson 5 (Norris 83, 5); Lunney 8, McInroy 8; Wood 7, Coote 7 (Boyd 83, 5); Odubeko 7.
REFEREE
: A Madley (England) 7