O'Brien embracing high stakes of huge Linfield rematch

Shelbourne boss Joey O'Brien insists his team will embrace the passion and high stakes of their massive Conference League play-off showdown against Linfield, ahead of tomorrow night's first leg at Tolka Park (live on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player from 7.30pm).

Shels beat the NIFL Premiership outfit 2-1 on aggregate when the teams met in the first round of Champions League qualification back in July.

They've both since slid down the European competitions through the qualifier route to set up a mouthwatering rematch in the third-tier Conference League.

If O'Brien's men can get past Linfield again, they would be guaranteed six more Conference League games, three at home and three away, over the autumn/winter period. Victory is also worth a minimum of €3.8m.

The stakes are high, and the atmosphere in both legs is sure to be feisty.

After they edged through at Windsor Park thanks to a 1-1 draw, Shels celebrated with an Irish tricolour on the pitch.

Linfield's players and fans will likely use those scenes as extra motivation to turn over the Dubliners, but O'Brien has no regrets about those boisterous celebrations.

Shelbourne celebrate their win at Windsor Park

"Going up there, coming off the pitch, I think their fans clapped us off as well," he said on Wednesday.

"We didn't get too carried away. I remember, obviously, in the dressing room and stuff like that, there was nothing like that.

"That moment of euphoria, that's what it's about and that's what you play the game for. I wasn't going to tell the lads to calm down. You put so much work and effort into it, when you win, you celebrate.

"It's a bit like Rijeka here the other night (after they snatched victory in the Europa League third-round qualifiers). I mean, for me to start complaining about them celebrating and the noise they were making in their dressing room... that's what football's about.

"It's about celebrating when you win. And when you get through things... I'm sure, whoever gets through, they will be the ones celebrating and that's all that matters."

O'Brien confirmed goalkeeper Conor Kearns is out after he was withdrawn 32 minutes into Sunday's FAI Cup loss against St Pat's, but he has no other injury concerns, with Sean Boyd back in the squad having recovered from a calf injury.

Linfield were still in pre-season when they came to Dublin in July. They've had seven games under their belt, with dangerous attacking pair Kieran Offord and Matthew Fitzpatrick more than capable of doing damage.

"They're a good team," said O'Brien. "I've been watching them sicne we last played them. Player wise, most of them played against us so from that point of view they've not probably changed the way they play. But that was that game, they might change it again.

"They went with two out-and-out centre-forwards in the game I seen but they might mix it up tomorrow.

"It was the start of their pre-season so they're obviosuly going to be fitter and match sharper, so it's going to be a tough game."

While O'Brien has been keeping tabs on Linfield, his opposite number David Healy has been monitoring Shels as well.

He'll be relishing the opportunity to exact revenge in a tie that's likely to go right to the wire.

Reflecting on meeting the same team twice in European qualification, O'Brien added: "Especially in Europe it's something you don't think will happen but it is what it is, it's here now, it's a great opportunity for both teams and I suppose if you'd offered both teams this opportunity at the very start of European competition that we'd be playing each other in a knockout game for group football, I think both teams would have taken the hand off you.

"I'm sure we'll have a gameplan in and out of possession, set plays, attacking and defending. They're really strong as well on their set plays, we need to be on guard as well."

We need your consent to load this rte-player contentWe use rte-player to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences

Listen to the RTÉ Soccer podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

Watch Shelbourne v Linfield in the Conference League play-off round on Thursday from 7.30pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player. Follow a live blog on this game and Santa Clara v Shamrock Rovers on rte.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app

Click here to read article