Shattered Shels must shift focus

THE knowledge that they will now enter the first round draw for the UEFA Cup on Friday in Monaco was no consolation to a Shelbourne team shattered by their defeat by Deportivo La Coruna in the Riazor Stadium.

Shelbourne’s dressing-room was populated by a group of bitterly disappointed players, frustrated by their heavy defeat after a performance that was as courageous and as committed as they could have hoped to produce.

Their regrets focused on the knowledge that Deportivo’s crucial opening goal stemmed from a Shelbourne mistake. The goal gave the Spaniards the incentive to strike two other flamboyant goals to add to a scoreboard that did scant justice to the Irish champions’ supreme effort.