UEFA Champions League first qualifying round first leg
Wednesday, 9 July
Shelbourne v Linfield, Tolka Park, 7.45pm
TV/STREAMING
Watch live coverage of the match on RTÉ2 and the RTÉ Player from 7.15pm.
ONLINE
Follow a live blog on rte.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app
WEATHER
It will be dry and after a cloudy start some warm spells of sunshine will break through. Winds will be light and westerly, with a sea breeze developing in coastal areas in the afternoon. Highest temperatures of 20 to 24 degrees.
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A chance to reset Shels' season
One of the tangible rewards for last season's unexpected league title triumph was naturally going to be a shot at the qualifying rounds for Europe's elite club competition for the first time since the summer of 2005-06.
While the SSE Airtricity Men's Premier Division title defence was not going swimmingly, the Champions League offered an icebreaker that could cut towards calmer narrative waters.
But just 17 days before this opening leg of the first qualifying round against Linfield, Damien Duff caught everyone off guard by confirming his sudden departure as manager, seemingly sensing that he could not reach his players in the way that he done previously.
Given that the Republic of Ireland legend was the larger-than-life lightning rod and totemic figure at Tolka Park over the past three-and-a-half years, it would leave a significant void.
However, Shels have moved to fill it with a degree of continuity that had been recommended by many observers outside the club, turning towards Duff's assistant Joey O'Brien who has now stepped into the head coach role.
He started off with back-to-back league draws as interim boss, before getting Shelbourne back to winning ways on Friday at beleaguered Cork City. But more importantly, O'Brien's continued presence going into the Linfield tie reduces the amount of upheaval that the squad would already be dealing with.
"Nothing really is going to change. They're probably going to play the same formation, they're going to have the same days off, the same training schedule, so there shouldn't be too much change within the Shelbourne camp," former Shamrock Rovers and Dundalk midfielder Richie Towell said on this week's RTÉ Soccer Podcast.
Any stability will be vital for the Drumcondra club, considering how huge the Linfield tie is from a financial and sporting perspective.
As Shamrock Rovers' journey last season showed, getting to the second qualifying round in the Champions League opens doors in the pathways towards the Europa League, and particularly, the Conference League. At the very least, it would offer a spot in the play-off round in the latter competition.
Shelbourne are guaranteed over €1m in prize money, while reaching the league phase of any of the competitions would offer multiples of that figure.
Advantage Shelbourne?
Last time Shels were in the Champions League qualifiers, the club also had to get past a Northern Irish side.
On that occasion in July 2005, they faced Linfield's perennial rivals Glentoran, winning 2-1 at the Oval in Belfast thanks to a Jason Byrne brace, before completing a 6-2 aggregate triumph at Tolka Park as Byrne netted another double sandwiched between goals from Owen Heary and Glen Crowe.
A couple of months before that, Shelbourne had lost the Setanta Cup final to Linfield at Tolka Park. However, in general, the League of Ireland clubs had more than an edge over the NIFL Premiership sides with Linfield's victory and Crusaders in 2012 being the Northern Irish league's only wins in the nine editions of the now-defunct competition. Indeed, five of those nine finals were all-LOI deciders.
More recently, Cork City beat Linfield 2-1 on aggregate in the 2016–17 Europa League first qualifying round.
More comprehensive was Shamrock Rovers' 4-1 defeat of Larne at Windsor Park in last season's league phase of the Conference League, indicating the gap that existed between a leading LOI club and a side that had won back-to-back NIFL Premiership titles.
"I'm not sure I'd read too much into Shamrock Rovers' performance because it did look as if there was a huge gulf between the sides on the night and Shamrock Rovers obviously have greater experience of playing in these competitions and navigating what can be tricky ties. I'm not sure you could say the same for Shelbourne," former UCD, Shamrock Rovers and Sheffield Wednesday midfielder Paul Corry said on the RTÉ Soccer Podcast.
However, where he and Towell feel Shelbourne will have a signficant advantage over Linfield will be in match sharpness.
Shels are in the midst of a busy league campaign, whereas Linfield have cobwebs to shake off. While the Belfast side played 120 minutes plus penalties against Dungannon Swifts in the NIFL Charity Shield on Friday, that is the only competitive game David Healy's outfit have had going into the Shelbourne tie since they completed the last domestic season at the end of April.
Therefore, Shelbourne playing at full pelt could make life very difficult for their opponents.
"Shelbourne are in the middle of the season, they should be firing all guns blazing. They have to go for it, they have to go for the jugular," Towell said.
"They're playing against a Linfield team who, as we said, are in pre-season. If (Shelbourne) don't go and really raise the levels and have a really high tempo against them, it could backfire."
Key men and familiar faces
While Shelbourne's season has been marked by inconsistency, some of their key attacking players have been finding form in recent weeks.
Mipo Odubeko, whose finishing can be erratic, has two goals in his last two games, and Harry Wood - the hero of last season's title-defining fixture at Derry City last November - has weighed in with three goals and an assist in the trio of games that Joey O'Brien has taken charge of. And with Sean Boyd, Ali Coote and John Martin available, the manager has options in the attacking third, especially with the creativity of Kerr McInroy behind them.
The one area they will want to tidy up is defensively with no clean sheet in their last four games.
"They're obviously giving away very sloppy goals but even the little bounce in the likes of Odubeko, who's come in and probably has a little bit more confidence," Corry said.
Shelbourne will have a fully fit squad to select from however, as O'Brien confirmed to RTÉ soccer correspondent Tony O'Donoghue during Tuesday's pre-match press conference.
Sean Gannon will sit out the game with a ban.
Linfield, meanwhile, will have a familiar face in the stands in veteran midfielder Chris Shields, a former title-winning team-mate of Towell's at Dundalk. He misses out tonight due to suspension.
Along with 39-year-old captain Jamie Mulgrew, they bring vast experience to a side managed by Northern Ireland's record international goalscorer David Healy, who recently signed a new three-year contract extension.
Last season's top scorer Joel Cooper, who netted 19 in their league-winning campaign along with providing 11 assists, has left for Coleraine, who are now managed by ex-Derry City boss Ruaidhri Higgins.
However, striker Matthew Fitzpatrick who scored 16 goals in all competitions, including one against Icelandic side Stjarnan in the first round of last season's Conference League, remains on the books at Linfield.
The only addition to their squad thus far this summer has been right back Sean Brown from Larne, with Healy telling the Belfast Telegraph: "At the minute this is the squad we go with and if there is progression in Europe with a bit more money we will look to try and add to the squad. If we don't then we’ll cut our cloth like we always do."
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