THE MESSAGE FOR this Europa Conference League adventure is a simple one for Shelbourne: no regrets.
Manager Damien Duff spoke before the 2-1 first-leg win over St Joseph’s at Tolka Park about how one memory from his Chelsea days sticks out above most.
It was the day before the second leg of the Champions League semi-final with Liverpool at Anfield – the infamous Luis Garcia ‘ghost goal’ game – and Jose Mourinho’s side travelled from London to England’s north west earlier than usual to train closer to Merseyside.
Blackburn Rovers agreed to let them use their training base.
For Duff it was perfect given it was the club where he made his name.
Then he pulled up with a torn hamstring in the final training session.
“Sometimes I think it’s only five or 10 years ago,” Duff said.
Then it hits him.
Next year marks the 20th anniversary of that tie.
Before you know it, these opportunities can be gone in a flash.
Shels are at a very different stage, the first round of qualifying in Europe’s new third-tier competition, but the stakes are high.
“The biggest game of our season,” Duff’s assistant, Joey O’Brien, said from Gibraltar yesterday.
He too has considerable European experience, for Bolton Wanderers, West Ham United and most recently Shamrock Rovers.
His last European action as a player came during the Covid pandemic when AC Milan – led by Zlatan Ibrahimovic – visited Tallaght Stadium in the summer of 2021.
Even then, the words of his former Bolton boss, Sam Allardyce, drove him on.
“I was 19. He always said to embrace these moments because you don’t know when they’ll come back around again. I look back on my career and I really did [embrace them].
“As a young player you can sometimes let moments pass and think they’ll come around again and again. Marseille, Sporting Lisbon, Atletico Madrid, huge games that I look back fondly on because that message hit home with me. You may never get it again,” O’Brien said.
“There were great nights coming back to Rovers and doing it for an Irish club. So many more connections to an Irish club. From a personal point of view it’s about making sure you don’t have any regrets. There will be a winner and a loser and you want to be on the right side.”
That has been the message hammered home to the players.
“They understand it, ‘don’t have any regrets’. Make sure you embrace it but that can’t make you freeze. You’ve got to raise your level, seize the moment, but don’t go into battle too tight because sometimes, when you want it too badly, that’s when you can’t perform and play at your best.
“Mistakes then creep into your game because you’re thinking of the outcome and how desperately you want something. You’ve got to get the balance.”
Midfielder JJ Lunney has been all ears.
The 26-year-old’s sole experience in Europe so far was with Bohemians in 2020 when they went out to Fehérvár in the first qualifying round of the Europa League.
He even joined Waterford the following season purely on the basis they had qualified for the same competition only for UEFA to deny their licence.
“It doesn’t matter if you’ve played 500 league games, nothing compares to playing in Europe,” Lunney said.
“It’s a much different feeling to it. They are so important, obviously there are players here who haven’t played in Europe and Seán Gannon who has played too many times for a lot of people’s liking. Obviously everyone is very excited, it’s a huge opportunity for all of us.
“I’m happy that I’m getting the proper experience with Shels.”
Only winning this evening will make it a fulfilling one.
Tonight: Europa Conference League first-round qualifier, second leg – St Joseph’s (1) v Shelbourne (2). Kick-off: 5pm
