July 16, 2025
Fatbear’s Sporting Diaries had never previously featured any game from either the Republic of Ireland or Northern Ireland, so a clash between the champions of both sides in the First Round of the Champions League appeared to be a good opportunity to tick off both countries !
The League of Ireland is a summer league so Shelbourne were mid-way through their season, whilst the Northern Ireland Football League Premiership is a traditional winter league, with Linfield playing just three pre-season friendlies in preparation for the tie.
The first leg in Dublin ended in a 1-0 victory for Shelbourne, with the only goal coming in the second half from a smart left footed finish from edge of the penalty area by Ademipo Odubeko. Shelbourne had dominated the match and would have felt they should have left the game with more than a one goal lead, although a first half penalty for handball was correctly overturned by VAR.
The winners of the tie will face Qarabag of Azerbaijan in the Second Qualifying Round, with the losers dropping into the Europa Conference League Second Qualifying Round where they will play Lithuanian side FK Zalgiris of Lithuania, who were defeated by Hamrun Spartans of Malta after a 28 penalty shoot-out !
Shelbourne
Shelbourne were founded in 1895 and play at the iconic Tolka Park in the Dublin suburb of Drumcondra, which now has a capacity of 5,700. They are commonly known as either Shels or The Reds.
Shelbourne are one of the most successful sides in the Republic of Ireland with 14 titles and 7 FAI Cups. However, their 2024 league title was their first since 2006.
Shelbourne were back in the UEFA Champions League for first time in two decades. In 2004/05 they eliminated KR of Iceland and perhaps surprisingly Hajduk Split ( 4-3 on aggregate ) before going out to Deportivo La Coruna despite a 0-0 home draw. In 2005/06, Shels got past Glentoran 6-2 on aggregate before Steaua Bucharest proved to be too strong.
Shelbourne This Season
The League Of Ireland Premier Division consists of 10 sides, who play each other four times for a 36-game season. Shelbourne won the 2024 title by finishing two points clear of Shamrock Rovers after a 1-0 victory at Derry City on the final day, which attracted a record TV audience for a LOI game. Substitute Harry Wood’s winning goal, a close-range finish after a free-kick was deflected to him, came five minutes from end.
However, Shelbourne will not successfully defend their title this year. As at today, they were in 5th place, 14 points adrift of leaders Shamrock Rovers with 11 games remaining to be played, with an 8-11-6 record.
Having won the 2024 title, ex-Blackburn Rovers, Chelsea, Newcastle and Fulham winger Damien Duff ( 100 caps ) stepped down as manager on June 22nd after a 0-1 home defeat to Derry City, following which Duff reportedly stated a pub team would have shown more motivation. The players apparently took exception to this, leading to Duff to quit.
Duff’s assistant, Joey O’Brien ( 5 caps ), who had played for Bolton Wanderers, Sheffield Wednesday and West Ham United, was appointed as Duff’s replacement after a short spell as the interim manager. The Reds had since twice drawn 1-1 away from home, at Waterford and Galway United, and last time out beat Cork City 3-1 at home.
Shelbourne began the season by winning the Super Cup with a 2-0 victory over Drogheda, and suffered only one defeat in their opening 12 league game, ironically a 0-1 home reverse to Drogheda. However, 7 games in that run were drawn and only 4 games won, and up to the Derry City game, five of the next 10 matches were lost prior to Duff’s resignation.
Average home attendances this season have been 4,555, the fourth best in the league, which compared to 4,145 last season.
Shelbourne Squad
Shelbourne’s top scorer so far this season was Odubeko with 6 goals. The Irish Under 21 International had played for Huddersfield Town, Port Vale, Doncaster Rovers, Fleetwood Town, as well as in Madeira for Portuguese side Maritimo.
Ex-Hull City and Grimsby striker Harry Wood was next in the scoring charts with 5 goals, ahead of ex-Waterford and Dundalk forward John Martin, who had 4 goals.
Sean Boyd was the top scorer last season with 10 goals, but had only found the net twice this season. However, Boyd had missed a number of games through injury and had only recently returned to the team.
Defender Patrick Barrett had played in the MSL for Cincinnati, whilst England Under 19 International defender James Norris was on loan from Liverpool and had EFL experience with Tranmere Rovers. Scottish midfielder Kerr McInroy had played for Kilmarnock and Partick Thistle and had been captain of Celtic’s reserve side, and fellow Scottish midfielder Ali Coote numbered Dundee United, East Fife and Detroit amongst his former clubs.
Defender Sean Gannon had won a remarkable 11 LOI titles with four different clubs, Shamrock Rovers, St Partrick’s Athletic, Dundalk and Shelbourne.
Linfield
Linfield were formed in 1886 and are known as The Blues. They have won a record 57 Irish League titles, which is claimed to be the world’s highest in terms of domestic championships won. They have also won 44 Irish Cups.
Home is the national stadium Windsor Park in Belfast, which has a capacity of 18,434.
Linfield had played 141 matches in European competition, winning just 29 of them. In 1970/71 they beat Manchester City 2-1 at home in the European Cup Winners Cup but lost the tie on away goals. In 2023/24 Linfield came close to qualifying to the Europa Conference group stages but lost a penalty shoot-out to Latvian side RFS.
The Northern Ireland Football League Premiership League was created for the 2008/09 season and consists of 12 sides who play each other three times for a 33-game regular season. The top six form a Championship group for five more games to determine the Champions. The bottom six play-off to avoid relegation, with the bottom side being automatically relegated and the second bottom side playing-off against the side finishing second in the NIFL Championship.
Linfield have won the NIFL Premiership 9 times, including last season when they finished 22 points ahead of runners-up Larne, who had won the previous two titles. Larne’s two successes had brought an end to four consecutive titles for Linfield.
Prior to the first leg in Dublin, Linfield had played three warm-up games, beating Welsh side Haverfordwest 4-0, who were preparing for their Europa Conference campaign, losing on penalties to Dungannon Swifts in the Ulster Charity Shield after a 0-0 draw, and winning 7-1 at Intermediate League side Newbuildings United.
Linfield’s average attendance in the 2024/25 regular season was 2,713, which was the highest in the division.
Linfield Squad
Linfield’s top scorer last season was ex-Oxford United and Port Vale winger Joel Cooper, who found the net 19 times. However, Cooper has left the club and signed for Coleraine.
Ex-Glenavon striker Matthew Fitzpatrick was the next highest scorer with 11 goals. Centre-back Ben Hall had been a youth player at Brighton and Hove Albion before moving on to Notts County, Partick Thistle and Falkirk, whilst Scottish centre-back Euan East had previously played for Queen’s Park, Albion Rovers and Queen Of The South.
Midfielder and captain Jamie Mulgrew has been with Linfield since 2005 and won two caps for Northern Ireland in 2010.
Scottish winger Callumn Morrison had played for Hearts of Midlothian and Falkirk, and appeared in these diaries in 2022 playing for Falkirk against Dundee, whilst forward Kirk Millar had played 35 matches for Oldham Athletic.
Scottish striker Kieran Offord had done the rounds amongst lower league sides in Scotland, playing for St Mirren, East Stirlingshire, Alloa Athletic, Stirling Albion and Edinburgh City as well as Crusaders in Northern Ireland, and English defender Sam Roscoe had played for Aberdeen, Alloa Athletic, Ayr United and Altrincham. Midfielder Joshua Archer was not to be confused with fast bowler Jofra Archer !
Ex-Oxford United, Wellington Phoenix and Motherwell Spanish attacking midfielder Alex Rodriguez would miss the match due to injury but Irish midfielder Chris Shields, who missed the first leg through suspension, was expected to figure tonight.
Manager David Healy won 95 caps as a striker in a long career that included playing for Manchester United, Preston North End, Leeds United, Fulham, Sunderland and Glasgow Rangers. The highlight of his career was probably scoring the only goal of the game as Northern Ireland beat Sven Goran Eriksson’s England at Windsor Park in 2005.
Matchday Information
The journey from Dublin to Belfast is around 170 kilometres and should normally take one hour 50 minutes.
The weather at the 19.45 local time kick-off was sunny and 19 degrees.
Tickets on the Linfield website were £15 for adults and £10 for concessions.
The match was streamed live on the BBC website and iPlayer. Bet365.com made Shelbourne at 5/4, with Linfield 19/10 favourites, and the draw 9/4.
Linfield made one change from the side that started the first leg with, as expected, Shields returning to the side after his ban. Dane McCullough was the player to make way. Shelbourne also made one change, with Tyreke Wilson replacing Norris at left-back.
Linfield were playing in their traditional blue shirts with white shorts and red socks whilst Shelbourne were in red shirts and shorts with white socks.
The referee was Andrew Madley from England.
Match Report
Linfield started fast and Archer was chopped down by Barrett after 20 seconds. The free-kick was sent beyond the far post where Ethan McGee managed to get a foot to it to send towards the other post but Evan Caffrey did excellently to head over his own bar under pressure from Hall, and was deemed to have been fouled in the process.
In the 4th minute Wood sent a dangerous low ball in from the right, but it was blocked on 6-yard line and Linfield eventually cleared. At the other end a minute later, Millar’s free-kick was headed well wide by Fitzpatrick.
The first yellow card of the game arrived in the 6th after Coote slid into Matthew Orr after losing control of the ball. At this stage, Linfield were passing the ball nicely, forcing Shelbourne to work hard.
Linfield should have opened the scoring in the 12th minute. Shelbourne keeper Conor Kearns inexplicably passed straight to Fitzpatrick, who attempted to chip first time into the empty net but put it narrowly wide. Fitzpatrick had time to take a first touch and steady himself so it was an incredible chance squandered. Kearns appeared to hurt himself when making the pass and needed treatment.
Shelbourne were gradually getting into the game. Wilson’s ball into Linfield area was easily claimed by keeper Johns, then Odubeko was brought down by Hall in the left-hand channel. The free-kick from Woods well gathered by Johns, who threw quickly to McGee to launch a counter attack but Shelbourne were able to get back and concede a throw-in midway in their half.
With 20 minutes played, Lunney’s incisive pass found Wilson inside the Linfield penalty area and the left-back crashed to the ground. The referee was unimpressed and play continued.
Shelbourne were forced into making an early change as Coyle limped off to be replaced by the experienced Gannon.
Linfield had half-hearted appeals for handball after Millar lifted the ball high beyond far post and it hit Caffrey.
In the 23rd minute, Coote received a pass 30 yards out, cut back onto his right foot but blazed over the Linfield bar. A minute later Wood made space to shoot from 12 yards. His effort beat the keeper but Shields was on the Linfield goal-line to clear. Shelbourne reworked possession to Coote on the edge of the area and his low shot nestled into the bottom corner. Keeper Johns was probably unsighted by two defenders standing in front of him. 0-1 after 24 minutes.
Shelbourne were now on top, and Caffrey did well on right to find Wilson on left hand side of the pitch, but the shot from angle of the penalty area went high and wide.
Keeper Kearns went down injured again, this time with what appeared to be a leg injury and he needed to be replaced. Shelbourne had been forced in to making two substitutions in the opening 30 minutes.
In a rare Linfield break, a through ball looked to have put Morrison clear, but Gannon did excellently to get back and win the ball just inside the Shelbourne area.
Shelbourne applied more pressure. A left-wing cross from Wilson was headed away, then two shots from just outside the area were blocked.
Linfield stirred and Shields’ good pass found Chris McGee, whose back-heel put Archer in space on the left, but his low cross partially cleared and Linfield forced a corner.
With the game entering first half added time, McGee crossed from the left wing for Fitzpatrick to almost certainly rise to head home. However, a deliberate handball by Wilson prevented him from getting his head to the ball, resulting in the referee awarding a penalty and showing a yellow card to Wilson. Shields took the spot-kick and sent the keeper the wrong way. 1-1 with 45+3 minutes on the clock.
Shelbourne then forced a corner which Wood played short to Wilson. Wood received the return pass and played a low ball towards the penalty spot where McInroy was waiting to shoot left-footed low into the keeper’s bottom left-hand corner. It looked like a well-worked training ground routine, but Shels' celebrations were cut short with the referee being sent to look at the VAR monitor. At first it seemed the officials might be looking at Odubeko standing in an offside position and possibly interfering with the vision of the keeper. However, it turned out they had been looking at holding by Barrett on East, preventing the Linfield centre-back from closing down McInroy ! It remained 1-1.
The last action of the half saw Millar’s cross unconvincingly headed away, then Shelbourne hacked away for throw. McGee then sent a curling shot from wide on the left, which drifted over the bar.
After 11 added minutes, the two sides headed for the dressing room with the scores level on the night..
Within 20 seconds of the restart, Shels’ substitute keeper Lorcan Healy passed straight to Morrison who shot first time from 30 yards, but Healy was able to save with an outstretched foot. It was almost a carbon copy of the opportunity for Fitzpatrick in the first half, and again the Linfield player had more time than he thought.
Four minutes into the second half, superb work by Odubeko held up a long ball and he then saw Wood in space on the right and played a splendid pass. However, the shot from Wood was put wide under pressure.
The impressive Odubeko then played a lay back to Lunney, whose shot was deflected for a corner.
In the 59th minute, a swift counter by Shelbourne saw Caffrey make a run down the right and send in a cross looking for Odubeko but it was headed off for a corner by Shields. The corner was only cleared as far as Gannon, but the shot from 12 yards blocked by the massed defence and cleared.
Coote then found the increasingly influential Caffrey on the right, and received a return pass, but could only shot high and wide from 16 yards.
The key moment in the match came in the 64th minute. Orr’s sloppy pass was intercepted by Odubeko, who set off for goal, only to be brought down by Hall sliding in in an attempt to make a tackle. The referee instantly showed the red card to Hall and Linfield were now up against it, down to 10 men.
Shelbourne dominated the final 25 minutes of the match, as Linfield rarely looked like scoring the goal that would take the tie into extra time.
In the 69th minute a lovely move by Shelbourne saw Odubeko hold up play well, find McInroy, who exchanged passes with Caffrey, and the full-back shot just wide across the face of the goal.
Shortly after, Caffrey was again in space inside the right-hand side of the Linfield area but his cross was too close to the keeper, who made an easy catch.
The 77th minute saw more pressure from Shelbourne but dogged defending by Linfield closed down Odubeko, Caffrey, Coote and then Wood.
Three minutes later Coote teed up Lunney, but the 25 yard attempted was bravely headed away.
McInroy then intercepted a slack pass in the Linfield defence but slipped when trying to pass to Odubeko and Linfield regain possession
Shelbourne were now mostly playing keep-ball, with Linfield starved of possession.
A cross from the Shelbourne right wing was deflected high in the area and Johns made the catch. Substitute Boyd went to the ground after colliding with a defender when trying to get to the ball but it was not a penalty.
Linfield briefly attacked, and five minutes from the end of normal time, Offord’s left footed curling attempt from just outside the area produced a regulation save from Healy. Archer then crossed from the right, but the flick by Fitzpatrick looped high into the air, and Healy claimed.
Shelbourne tshould have put the game to bed in the closing stages and after Wood and Caffrey combined, Caffrey fired in a low cross but East on the stretch put the ball out for a corner.
Wood then found Gannon in space but the chip into 6-yard box was split between Boyd and Odubeko, and Johns made the catch. With 90 minutes up, Boyd put Odubeko clear with only the keeper to beat, but his left footed shot across goal was blocked by outstretched foot of the Linfield keeper.
Six additional minutes were to be played. Odubeko again showed good skill and found Wood, who played in Caffrey, but after cutting back on to his left foot Caffrey shot a few feet over the bar.
Shelbourne comfortably saw out the final minutes to progress to the second round. The game had ended as a contest after the red card and Linfield never looked like scoring afterwards. Shelbourne failed to take their chances to win the match, but deservedly went through after the draw.
Linfield : Johns – Orr, East, Hall, McGee ( Offord ) – Shields, Mulgrew ( McCullogh ), Archer – Millar ( Allen ), Fitzpatrick, Morrison ( McKee )
Shelbourne : Kearns ( Healy ) – Caffrey, Barrett, Ledwidge, Wilson ( Norris ) – McInroy, Lunney, Coyle ( Gannon ) - Odubeko, Coote ( Boyd ), Wood
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