‘You can't take chances' – Joey O'Brien gives early injury update on Shelbourne duo after Champions League qualifier win
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Shelbourne advanced to the next round of the Champions League qualifiers with an aggregate win over Linfield
Credit: Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile
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Mark Coyle, pictured, and Conor Kearns were both forced off injured
Credit: Ben McShane/Sportsfile
Ali Coote's opener was cancelled out by Chris Shields' penalty with Kerr McInroy's goal chalked off by VAR for a tug by Paddy Barrett.
Ben Hall's straight red card made a Linfield comeback unlikely with Shels' celebrations at the final whistle showed what it meant.
Barrett borrowed a flag from supporters with Evan Caffrey then gleefully waving it on the pitch as the few remaining Linfield fans booed.
Shels boss Joey O'Brien said: 'I thought we were the better team over the two legs but you don't always get what you deserve.
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'This was always going to be a tough game but I thought we started well, got on the ball and dominated possession and we reacted well after the penalty.
'We had a worked set-play and you have that emotion where you're thinking you're ahead and then you have it taken off you.
'The lads were a little bit flat in the dressing room which was understandable. I said to them that was OK.'
Shels face Fairview Rangers in an FAI Cup tie on Saturday before hosting Qarabag at Tolka Park on Wednesday before the second leg in Azerbaijan a week later.
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And O'Brien knows his side cannot afford to gift the sort of chances that keepers Conor Kearns and Lorcan Healy did in either half.
O'Brien said: 'You definitely cannot give them away, it's not even about Europe. You probably don't get away with them normally.
RTE pundit's one-liner about Damien Duff makes Joey O'Brien laugh after Shelbourne's win vs Linfield
'They were disappointing because I don't think from open play they cut us open or had outstanding chances, it was from our bad stuff.
'But I thought overall, apart from those couple of moments, it was really mature, especially the second half and I was disappointed we didn't get the winner in the game.'
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The ex-Ireland international is also sweating on the fitness of no 1 Kearns and captain Mark Coyle, both of whom were forced off.
He said: 'Mark was struggling with his knee, he wanted to keep going because he's a warrior and he would keep going to the death but on a recovery run he wasn't able to sprint and you can't take chances at this level.
'Conor felt his hamstring, I think he felt it a little bit earlier, and people probably thought he was wasting time, and then he felt it again on the next kick, so he had to come off.
'I suppose we just have to get him back down to Dublin, get him scanned, and just take it from there.'
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