Shels boss gracious in defeat

Shelbourne coach Pat Fenlon praised the quality and courage of his team when claiming they should be proud of their European performance despite being eliminated 4-2 on aggregate by French high-fliers Lille in the UEFA Cup first round.

Shels had completed a dramatic comeback in the first leg at Lansdowne Road two weeks ago when Glen Fitzpatrick fired a brace in the last 10 minutes to level at 2-2 and keep their qualification chances alive.

But they failed to repeat that performance in Lille’s Metropole stadium last night and never managed to recover after conceding two goals in the first-half from Milenko Acimovic and Matt Moussilou.

Despite the loss, Fenlon, who was suspended from the bench and followed the match from the stands, said he was satisfied with his side’s performance.

“This is disappointing to go out but we went down to a very good side,” Fenlon said.

“Lille were much better than us, I always thought we had a chance but in the end they proved to be a game too far for us. But I am very proud of what we have achieved this season, my players learnt a lot from their European matches against Deportivo la Coruna (in the Champions League qualifiers) and then Lille.

“We gave the ball away and we were punished twice by Lille. We knew it was going to be very hard work but yet we were positive going into the game.”

Lille, meanwhile, who are back in European action three years after getting a Champions League taster, have now booked their ticket to the group stage and midfielder Philippe Brunel is confident they will fare well even though their next rivals should be tougher.

“We are good challengers and I am sure that we can unsettle any team we face,” Brunel said. “We definitely are a very good, quality side.”

Forward Gregory Tafforeau added: “We were not scared of them (Shelbourne) and now we are extremely happy.

“We might now face more difficult sides but we played through the Intertoto Cup with a 100 record and we will continue.”