Latest news with #JoeyO'Brien
RTÉ News
a day ago
- Sport
- RTÉ News
Joey O'Brien urges Shelbourne to show no fear in Baku
Shelbourne boss Joey O'Brien took heart from his team having "a right cut off" Qarabag in the second half of Wednesday night's Champions League second-round qualifier, but bemoaned the fact it took 45 minutes for his players to really back themselves at Tolka Park. The champions of Azerbaijan exhibited plenty of class in a 3-0 victory, effectively killing the tie ahead of the return leg in Baku next Wednesday. However, Shels had their moments. Sean Gannon hit the post in the seventh minute, Paddy Barrett clipped the crossbar when it was still only 1-0, while Harry Wood spurned a great opening in an improved second-half showing. There's no shame in losing to such seasoned European campaigners, and Shels do have the safety net of falling into the Europa League third qualifying round regardless, but O'Brien was adamant they'll go to Baku to put up a fight, and prove they've learned some harsh lessons. "I thought second half we were the better team," he said. "We got in their face, we looked stronger and fitter. Again, the lads will learn from it, they see it. "For me, respect on a football pitch is a fear, you know? "You're afraid of the mistake, or you're afraid of the outcome of what might happen. I have no time for that. "I said it to the lads, it's the way I was as a player and a coach and the way I want to be as a manager. "I wanted to make sure in the second half, regardless of the result, that we had a right cut off them and I felt for large periods we done that." Qarabag - still in their pre-season - had some standout performers in Dublin, particularly Emmanuel Addai, Nariman Akhundzade and their captain Abdellah Zoubir, who once played under Pat Fenlon at Hibernian. O'Brien admitted the pace and precision of their play caught out Shels in the first half. "It's quality, you are preparing them," he said. "You've seen the video, you are doing as much as you can, the lads knew what they were playing against. You would have known the style of play. "Until you get on the pitch, you get so familiar against players in the (League of Ireland) week in, week out, you are coming up against these boys, you never see it until they are on the pitch. "The level they operate at is higher than our domestic football. "The touch, the speed. You see that in the first 10, 20 minutes and get a feel for in the game, you realise you can't make that first pass, or second pass and need to go direct and get down the sides of them, that's where we got the benefit of that. "These games, they are so demanding, your fitness level goes up. Your mind, your concentration. It happens because it's the level you are operating at. It's sink or swim time. "We've got to learn from the mistakes because there's another few weeks of this and a huge game coming down the line." A nasty looking injury to Tyreke Wilson was another dark cloud on a disappointing evening for Shelbourne; the full-back was in a lot of pain after landing awkwardly on his ankle when contesting a challenge. He'll be assessed today as Shels return to training to try and cook up a plan to trouble Qarabag on their own patch in what is likely to be 30-degree-plus heat. "It's a great game of football travelling over to a place where it's difficult to play," O'Brien insisted. "They are a super team at home. We knew this was our night to have a right good go. "That's not to say we are going to go over there and roll over. That's not football for me, it's preparing a game plan to go out and attack the game and make an upset again "The second half, I thought we were really good. If you get 1-1, who knows? The atmosphere is up and stuff like that. We didn't. This is the level, that's the standout thing. "It's a huge game (in Baku), another game, Champions League round two, second leg away from home, stuff you dream of as a kid. "I'd love to think (the players) are already thinking about it, and see if they can go over and take learnings from who they were up against and if they were disappointed in their own performance, try and put on a better performance next week."
Irish Independent
a day ago
- Sport
- Irish Independent
‘Learn from the mistakes' – Joey O'Brien says there are beneficial lessons in Qarabag loss for Shels' challenges ahead
Euractiv Joey O'Brien believes the lessons from a tough night against Qarabag will be short term pain for long term gain as far as Shelbourne's European ambitions are concerned. O'Brien's side suffered a three goal defeat at Tolka Park which kills their hopes of progression in the Champions League but they have the significant fallback of a drop to the Europa League and the insurance of a Conference League playoff if the second tier is beyond them.
Irish Independent
a day ago
- Sport
- Irish Independent
‘Learn from the mistakes' – Joey O'Brien says there are valuable lessons in Qarabag loss for Shels' challenges ahead
Euractiv Joey O'Brien believes the lessons from a tough night against Qarabag will be short term pain for long term gain as far as Shelbourne's European ambitions are concerned. O'Brien's side suffered a three goal defeat at Tolka Park which kills their hopes of progression in the Champions League but they have the significant fallback of a drop to the Europa League and the insurance of a Conference League playoff if the second tier is beyond them.
The Irish Sun
a day ago
- Sport
- The Irish Sun
‘It ran away from us' admits Joey O'Brien as he reveals Shelbourne ‘worried about making mistakes' in loss to Qarabag
SHELBOURNE were left ruing how their finishing and ending let them down as this Champions League tie slipped away from them. Shels hit the woodwork before Qarabag took the lead and again when they were just 1-0 behind but the return leg was made a formality when the visitors 2 Shelbourne lost 3-0 to Qarabag Credit: Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile 2 Joey O'Brien admitted he was disappointed with how his side finished the game Credit: Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile Shels boss Joey O'Brien said: 'I'm disappointed how it ended. It sort of ran away from us. 3-0, I thought we were right in the second half but we just didn't get the equaliser. 'We saw the speed they were going to play at, we knew the heat was going to come, because they're used to playing at this level. Their touch, speed, passing, everything, is on point. 'In the first half, we probably gave too much respect. Respect on a football pitch is fear. I thought we were worried about making mistakes. 'We changed formation at half-time, went more on the front foot and had a cut, and created some chances. Read More on Shelbourne 'We went two up top to go two v two and I thought we had a bit of joy but, those half chances, at this level, you have to take them. 'I thought our fitness was showing but we didn't manage to get that goal and then left ourselves open which you can't do at this level. 'That second goal, it was the best player on the pitch, probably, who picked him out with the weight of the pass, and to pick up the run, but the last goal was a bad mistake by us.' Captain Paddy Barrett reckoned they might have erred by chasing an equaliser in the closing stages rather than ensuring they did not fall further behind. Most read in Sport He said: 'We spoke at half-time about us still being in the tie. The goal we conceded was gut-wrenching but we knew we'd quality players going forward. 'We upped the energy and we wanted to take it to them but we needed to stay in the game and not concede silly goals.' RTE pundit's one-liner about Damien Duff makes Joey O'Brien laugh after Shelbourne's win vs Linfield
Extra.ie
2 days ago
- Sport
- Extra.ie
O'Brien urges Shels to mirror Tipp in Champions League clash
Shelbourne are preparing to take on Qarabag in the first-leg of their second round of Champions League qualifiers on Wednesday evening. If Shelbourne manage to knock-out the Azerbaijani side in this round, they will be guaranteed a place in a European competition later this year. However, it may be a tough task with Qarabag strong favourites after making the group stages of European competitions for the last 11 years running. Shelbourne boss Joey O'Brien knows his side won't back down. Pic: Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile The Reds do have a two-round safety net of the Europa League and then the Conference League if the visitors are too much for them over the two legs, but if they do pass through, Shelbourne will face the winners of Macedonians Shkendija and Romanian side FCBS. If Shelbourne are knocked-out at this stage, they will face a tough Europa League third-round qualifier against the defeated side of the match between HNK Rijeka of Croatia and Ludogorets 1945 from Bulgaria. If Joey O'Brien's side then fall at that hurdle, they will have a final chance to get into Europe in a Conference League play-off. However, the new boss insists that his players are well up for the challenge and have no intention of bowing out early. He said: 'Underdogs …. Irish people in general love that, don't they? Watching the hurling there at the weekend and it was the underdogs that won it. 'The level of competition has gone up. Qarabag have made the group stages for 10 or 11 years. They have shown their class. Their individual players are unbelievable. 'Some have come and gone but their style of play is the same. They still have very good players. The big thing for me is having no regrets after European games like this – it's a moment in a player's career to go out and really embrace it.' Shelbourne have three chances to get into Europe. Pic: Ben McShane/Sportsfile When asked what traits are needed to pull off an upset, the Shels boss simply said: 'Winning, ultimately'. O'Brien's side are fresh off their 2-1 aggregate victory over Northern Irish side Linfield in the first-round last week, but they got their first taste of VAR scrutiny in the away leg. The Reds had a well-worked set-piece goal from Kerr McInroy chalked off deep in first-half stoppage time due to a pull of a jersey at the back post and O'Brien admitted that they will have to be more subtle with their use of the dark arts when the cameras are involved. He added: 'The big one was last week because after Linfield equalised, we went straight back up the pitch just before half-time to score from a worked set-play. 'Most of the time you'd get away with it. The dressing room was a bit flat from the emotion of it. It took a bit of an edge off us but the lads managed the second-half well.' He also admitted that the presence of VAR may lead to the side rethinking some of their set-piece routines. O'Brien continued: 'Set-plays are such a massive part of the game and I've had a huge focus on that over the last number of years. You see how important set-plays are, at all levels. They decide so many big games and so many moments in big games. 'You see results in England and Europe and it could be 2-0, 3-0 or 4-0 but the first or second goal could be a set-play and it could have broken the spirit of the opposition. 'So set-plays are massive. Both sides of it, defending and attacking and over this tie and going forward, we need to be on the money in both boxes.' Shelbourne have already banked €1.71million so far from their European journey and that will effectively soar to €4million if they manage to produce an upset against Qarabag.
