Former Shelbourne midfielder Alan Cawley believes the club's signing of midfielder Jack Henry-Francis is a "real coup".
The London-born Republic of Ireland youth international has previous experience of the League of Ireland, having been on loan at Sligo Rovers from Arsenal last season, particularly impressing in a match against Derry City which RTÉ soccer analyst Cawley was working on.
Henry-Francis was also on the radar during the latter part of Arsenal's run to the 2024-25 Champions League semi-finals by being included in matchday squads for the then-injury hit Gunners - albeit he did not get any minutes.
But after signing for Shelbourne at the weekend, the 21-year-old will now be a boost to the Dublin club as they look to bounce back in the league and navigate the European campaign.
"You can see the smile across my face when you mentioned his name. This boy is a fantastic talent," Cawley told this week's RTÉ Soccer Podcast.
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"And it's a real coup for Shelbourne to get him because I remember that night very well and he was absolutely outstanding up in the Brandywell against Derry City, who were obviously going for the league as well and Sligo Rovers not in as good form (at the time).
"But he absolutely ran the show, he was brilliant. Not just in terms of getting on the ball and spraying balls around and running the game with technical ability. (But it was) his energy levels, he was involved in everything.
"He was like an old-fashioned midfielder, doing a bit of everything but all to a very high level and a very high standard.
Sligo midfielder Jack Henry-Francis, who is on loan from Arsenal, scoops the player-of-the-match accolade.
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"So even when you look at that Shelbourne midfield at the moment, and it is quite strong - I thought JJ Lunney and Kerr McInroy played quite well at Windsor Park but they're fairly similar, both left footed, both like to sit deep and get on the ball and play a little bit, and then you have the attacking ones maybe Harry Wood and Ali Coote - I think he (Henry-Francis) is a mix of everything and he'll be a really good addition."
A 1-1 draw against Linfield at Windsor Park last week saw Shelbourne win 2-1 on aggregate and advance to the second qualifying round of the Champions League.
But the task will be daunting with the very seasoned Qarabag standing in their way, starting with Wednesday's first leg at Tolka Park.
Joey O'Brien's side do have the fall back of the Europa League and Conference League should they fail to get past the Azerbaijani champions but if they are to get to a third round tie against either Romanian side FCSB or Macedonian outfit KF Shkendija, the home leg against Qarabag will be key.
"I think for Shelbourne, if they have any chance whatsoever, they have to win the first leg," former Shamrock Rovers and Dundalk midfielder Richie Towell said on the podcast.
"Even a draw at home, it's not really good enough. They're going to be going over to Azerbaijan (in the second leg), it will be an absolute nightmare of a flight getting over there, it's going to be 35, 36 degrees. It will be like a cauldron.
"When I was at Shamrock Rovers, (Qarabag) was one of the teams that you think 'I hope we don't get them' because, one, you have the travel - absolute nightmare getting there and even getting back for your league games it's really hard - you have the weather; I remember we went over and played a match in Slovakia and like that it was 35 degrees and we were trying to warm up in a little corner of the pitch because it was shaded and when the game kicked off, we just sat in a low block the whole game.
"So it was a nightmare. Shelbourne will be up against something similar. So if they have any realistic chance, they've got to go and attack the first leg.
"Similar to against Linfield, they did, they came out really fast in the first leg. But as Alan said, they didn't put them away and they're not going to get half the chances that they did against Linfield as they will against Qarabag, and if they don't take them, they're going to be in for a really tough two-legged tie."
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