Joey O'Brien vows Shelbourne will attack Rijeka with €3.8m jackpot on the line
EURO VISION Joey O'Brien vows Shelbourne will attack Rijeka with €3.8m jackpot on the line
JOEY O'BRIEN insisted Shelbourne will not rely on a clean sheet tonight as he draws up a plan to win.
Shels host Croatians Rijeka at a sold-out Tolka Park this evening knowing they are potentially 90 minutes from history and reaching the Conference League group stages.
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Joey O'Brien is going all out for the win in the second-leg clash vs Rijeka
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The Shelbourne boss insists his side won't park the bus against the Croats - that's despite only needed a draw to confirm European group stage football
Win and they are in the groups earning €3.8 million, while also having a Europa League play-off against either Greek's PAOK or Austrian's Wolfsberg to pocket €5 million.
Lose and there is the consolation of a Conference League play-off against either Faroese champions Vikingur or Irish League winners Linfield.
But a 2-1 win in Croatia last week puts the Reds in the rare position of knowing a draw will be enough to secure victory.
Not that O'Brien is thinking about that at all.
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He said: 'Nah, because when you look at it and you talk about 0-0 and all that sort of stuff, you're being safe and you're hoping for the best.
'That's not the way we want the team to play and I don't think that's the way the players want to play.
'It's about going out and understanding the gameplan and, that in certain moments of the game, not being gung ho or anything like that.
'But it's also knowing that we want to attack the game. I think when we're on the front foot and playing and getting on the ball and creating chances, that's when we're at our best.
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'So for me to have a game plan, just sitting in and hoping for the best - it wasn't like that as a player, it's not going to be like that now as a coach.'
O'Brien also has a near full-strength squad to choose from with Seán Boyd, Tyreke Wilson, and Jack Henry Francis the only absentees.
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