It was a night of firsts for Shelbourne but manager Joey O'Brien's last message before sending his players out to battle against BK Hacken emphasised how far the club has come.
Almost two decades on from when Shels were plunged into darkness, they were playing under the bright lights - at Tallaght Stadium rather than Tolka Park due to UEFA regulations - on a night of significance.
This opening match of their UEFA Conference League adventure on Thursday night was their debut in a European competition proper, becoming just the third League of Ireland club to achieve the feat.
In the lead-up, O'Brien had repeated the mantra that he wanted his players to embrace the occasion, and reflecting on the draw in the press conference, the manager pondered a question from RTÉ Sport about the parting words he had wanted to impart to his players on their way into the arena. Inspiration came from an anecdote shared by the club's then Head of Football Operations Dave Henderson.
"The last message, I think I'd seen a tweet, it could have been Dave Henderson maybe, I think said something about (the fact) that he was in six years ago selling Christmas trees in Tolka Park with Dave O'Connor the CEO," O'Brien said.
Only 6 years ago David O Connor CEO and myself were selling Xmas trees 🌲 from Tolka Pk car park ,,best of luck to all involved tonight 💪⚽️ https://t.co/ABDg5Ciwxq
— david henderson (@dvehendo) October 2, 2025
"And I just wanted to touch on that with the lads and say 'how far you've come but don't accept it'.
"This club for the last couple of years for us shouldn't have got probably the success we've had and it's all because we kept on pushing, driven all the time to keep on achieving, keep on reaching higher, and that was the thing tonight. 'Don't be happy with where we are, don't be contented by getting group stage football, and thinking oh jaysus, job done.'
"I said to the lads, it's about winning, it's about qualifying and ultimately (if you) don't do that, we're going to be disappointed."
O'Brien felt his side acquitted themselves well against Hacken although the way his own side dealt with the ball left something to be desired for the Shels manager.
"Our shape overall limited (Hacken), they have some very good players," he said.
"We could have been better on the ball. We were a little bit too safe in our build up and in our passing. Too many sideways passes that sort of invited the press and sometimes you have to be brave and be willing to stick on the ball, break a line with a pass from the back line or a midfielder, willing to try to turn and make a forward pass. I felt we could have improved that."
While Shels will feel they will have things to work on before their next Conference League clash away at North Macedonian side KF Shkendija on 23 October, a point could prove to be valuable in their bid to reach the knockout stages.
Last year, all but one team that got to seven points reached the first knockout stage. But O'Brien said he was not thinking that far ahead.
"I don't think you can look too far down the line really," he said.
"We wanted to make sure obviously that we got something out of the game tonight and we've done that, so we'll move on now and get ready for the next one."
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