Shelbourne Vs KR Reykjavik

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Tonight's the night for Shels.

Can I just ask anyone who lives any way close to Tolka Park to get down there tonight, and bring your friends too, to support Shelbourne in the Champions League Qualifier.

For those who don't know, Shelbourne got a great result in Iceland against KR Reykjavik, a 2-2 draw, so they have an excellent chance of going through to the next round, and a tie against Hadjuk Split.

Shelbourne currently sit on the top of the eircom League, while KR are 6th in the Icelandic league.

Shels' are expected to be without a few first choice players, most noticeably Glenn Fitzpatrick, who is rated as 50/50 to make the game.

So come on, get out and watch some football tonight, and support the Irish Champions

LizardKing

Good Luck to Shels tonight ...

KO 7.45 at Tolka Park

I'll be there ... anyone else gonna head down and support an Irish team in European Football , hopefully get a good crowd to cheer on the reds ...


Prediction : 2:1 to shels (fingers crossed)

LizardKing

just did up a thread .. literally at the same time as you ...

I'll be there tonight .. hope for a good turn out

talla

threads merged

LizardKing

cheers talla ... unfortunately does not seem to be much interest in the tie

Guy:Incognito

I just got a phone call, theres 3 of us going

SteM

Hopefully there'll be decent crowd, I'll be there anyway.

The weather's looking good enough to sit in the Ballybough end

gimmick

Lets be honest here lads, anything less than a win for Shels tonight will be dissapointing, though a 0-0 draw will do to go on on away goals.

I heard an amazing stat on the radio today, that Shels havent won a home Euro tie in 11 years. They should surely put that righ tonight, but unfortunatley im going to say a 0-1 to KR.

KdjaCL

I go for 2-1 KR sadly

Shels are unbeatable al late collapses.


kdjac

DerekD Goldfish

Final Score 0-0
not a great result but they are true anway one step closer to the unlikly feat of an irish team reaching the champions league proper.

Töpher

Better than losing anyways. Fair play to them.

eirebhoy

Final Score: 0-0. Shels qualify to play Hajduk Split in the second round (first leg in Croatia next Wedensday). Judging from radio commentary Wes Houllihan was my man of the match with Alan Moore also having a very good game (suprisingly they were both substituted in the last 10 minutes), Jason Byrne was shíte. Shels dominated for periods of the match and Reykjavik were trying to catch them on the break. Both teams had decent chances but overall Shels deserved the win.

Hajduk Split are rated 166th out of 239 teams in the UEFA club rankings of 2004. The got to the 2nd round of last years UEFA cup by beating a Swizz and Finnish team on away goals. They were knocked out on by Roma, 2-1 on agg. They are beatable though and Croatia are probably on par with Sweden in terms of league standards.

Töpher

Hmmm... teletext on rte says 0-0?

eirebhoy

Originally posted by Einstürzende
Hmmm... teletext on rte says 0-0?

Edited, Cheers. Bit of a lapse in concentration.:)

Bateman

Jason Byrne is on a bit of a decline at the moment, which as a Bohs fans is great to see, as they have been relying on him too much this season. David Kelly has suggested in the Independent that abuse from opposition fans could be a part cause, music to my ears for the next Bohs-Shels game in August; going to be a cracker.

eyerer

well done
would love to see an irish team in the CL, though (in that unlikely event) they'd most probably get pasted by everyone they played
would still be good exposure and finances though

thejollyrodger

great result, even if they still havent won a home game in Europe in 11 years. Its another step forward. I was very happy to see them go through.

Its one more match for shels to go through to the C.L ? I cant see them winning but soner or later if the teams keep trying to make progress they are bound to make it to the C.L proper. Of course they will loose a lot of games while they are there but the money and experience will be well worth it.

Whats the odds of Shels going through ?

thejollyrodger

Shelbourne secure Split date
Wednesday, 21 July 2004

By Aidan Fitzmaurice at Tolka Park


Shelbourne FC held their nerve to secure the goalless draw they needed to defeat KR Reykjavík and advance to the second qualifying round of the UEFA Champions League on the away-goals rule. Next up for the Republic of Ireland champions will be Croatian side HNK Hajduk Split.

Frenetic opening
Welsh-born goalkeeper Steve Williams was the Dublin side's hero as he pulled off a number of excellent saves. Knowing that they needed to score to remain in the competition, KR attacked from the start. With just five minutes on the clock, striker Kjartan Finnbogason had a great chance when Sigmundur Kristjansson put him through, but Williams saved well.

Harris intervention
Finnbogason went close again on 18 minutes but this time he was denied by defender Jamie Harris, while Williams was on hand again on 25 minutes to rebuff Sigurvin Olafsson. However, it was not all one-way traffic and Shelbourne had their chances too, with former Ireland international Alan Moore going close after eleven minutes.

Byrne chance
The home side created a golden opportunity on 37 minutes when Jason Byrne failed to find the net with only the keeper to beat. Moore's cross had caught out the KR defence and Byrne was left unmarked but he missed the target and sent his header across the face of goal.

Increased threat
Shelbourne were more of a threat after the break, with John Byrne again finding himself in a good scoring position on the hour, but his shot was weak and easily saved by goalkeeper Kristjan Finnbogason. The KR captain also made a superb save to deny Stuart Byrne on 74 minutes after good work by Wes Hoolahan.

Under pressure
Shelbourne's strikers had further chances as the home defence soaked up some pressure with the increasingly desperate Icelandic club throwing more and more men forward. However, Pat Fenlon's side held on to get the draw they needed, leaving KR to rue letting a two-goal lead slip in the first leg when Shelbourne fought back to draw 2-2. www.uefa.com

LizardKing

T'was a good game , both teams were on top at certain stages of the game. I thought Harris and the shels defence in general had a good game, Wes Hoolihan showed some class but did lose the ball a little too much . also Alan Moore tended to be knocked off the ball a little easily and did not go all in to every challenge. Jason Byrne had a good few chances although he seems to have hit a bad patch in scoring form which I really hope he gets out of soon. My man of the match would have to be Harris ...

Fair play to shels hope they can get a good result away to Hadjuk Split now ...

thejollyrodger

two more games and they reach the group stages, but i cant see them winning both of those games for many years to come

SteM

Originally posted by LizardKing
T'was a good game , both teams were on top at certain stages of the game. I thought Harris and the shels defence in general had a good game, Wes Hoolihan showed some class but did lose the ball a little too much . also Alan Moore tended to be knocked off the ball a little easily and did not go all in to every challenge. Jason Byrne had a good few chances although he seems to have hit a bad patch in scoring form which I really hope he gets out of soon. My man of the match would have to be Harris ...

Fair play to shels hope they can get a good result away to Hadjuk Split now ...

Don't think that Moore was knocked off the ball half as much as Morgan. Morgan looked a waste of space in midfield but Moore ran all night up front, especially in the second half when balls were being played into space in the corners.

Heary would have been my man of the match over Harris.

LizardKing

Heres some pics from the Ballbough end (found on shelbournefc.ie)

SteM

Originally posted by LizardKing
Heres some pics from the Ballbough end (found on shelbournefc.ie)

They're my pics

LizardKing

oh right sorry .. nice pics .. although I thought the smoke effect was a little OTT

SteM

I thought it looked like a really good display. I support they're not allowed to use flares so they used the next best thing

eirebhoy

Originally posted by thejollyrodger
two more games and they reach the group stages, but i cant see them winning both of those games for many years to come

If they beat Split one of the following teams will be travelling to Tolka:

Deportivo, Real Madrid, Juventus, Inter, Man Utd, Liverpool, Bayer Leverkusen, Monaco, PAOK, Benfica, PSV, Rangers, Anderlecht, or one of 5 other teams.

I think that would be good enough.:D

Summer Soccer may pay off and Shels could hold for a low defeat or even a draw in Croatia and catch them in Tolka. Split paid €1m for a player last week BTW and they have quite a few internationals.

LizardKing

Shels "European" home record is really bad ... and there current form is very bad , I hope they snap out of it and start playing well at home again, bring back fortress tolka ...

kilkennycat2004

Well done Shels from a Waterford Utd fan .

The results so far this season by LOI clubs have been excellent.

Its not that long ago when we went I think 9 seasons without winning a single Euroean tie.

To acheive the Champions Leaue itself (i.3 get through 3 ties) is probably too much toask at this stage but a win in either leg v split would be tremendous.

thejollyrodger

Split paid €1m for a player last week BTW and they have quite a few internationals.

No doubt about it, its a big step up. Its a shame that they only get a crack at it once at year. A 1-1 or 2-2 draw out there would be excellent!

IF they managed to beat Split, it would be a historic day for Irish club football

KdjaCL

Originally posted by SteM
They're my pics

Any pics of the stand on the left?
Was it full? How many were at the game?


kdjac

Bateman

I think it would be better if no-one took photos of all the lovely seats on the Riverside.

Big Ears

beating split would be an amazing result and if they did they would have to want PAOK Salonika in the next round .

I would rate Split as good a side as Salonika , despite the Greek league being of much better quality , they are only the 3/4 best team in it .

It might be possible to beat Rangers over 2 legs .

wouldnt there be 3 other sides to be seeded aswell as the ones u named Eirebhoy ? .

still though I expect Hajduk to win by 3 goals over 2 legs , il say 5-2 to Split .

Bateman

That sounds about right to me as well, 4-2 or 5-2 over the 2 legs, I won't be punting on either leg though.

SteM

Originally posted by KdjaC
Any pics of the stand on the left?
Was it full? How many were at the game?


kdjac

Just got this of the riverside stand, it wasn't full.

http://img69.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img69&image=cd.jpg

The indo said there were 3500 there but I'd say that was way off, I'd guess at 4500 - 5000.

Bateman

Yeah around 4,500 was what I thought, probably around the same as what Bohs will get tomorrow.