Coyle still rates Glentoran's chances

Glentoran 1 Shelbourne 2

Glentoran manager Roy Coyle is hoping the memory of last season’s European exploits will inspire his side to further glory this year.

A year ago, Glens drew the home leg of their UEFA Cup clash against Finnish side AC Allianssi 2-2 and then trailed 1-0 in the return.

It meant Coyle’s side needed to score twice to guarantee victory, and Tom McCallion and Colin Nixon duly obliged as Glentoran advanced to the next stage of a European competition for the first time in 22 years.

The current Irish League champions from Belfast face a similar scenario 12 months on in the second leg of their Champions League first qualifying round tie, this time against their eircom League counterparts from Dublin at Tolka Park next Wednesday.

After Jason Byrne had scored twice in 10 second-half minutes, Sean Ward gave Glentoran a lifeline with a 78th-minute strike to at least set up a tense return in southern Ireland.

Coyle is adamant his side are far from finished as he said: “We have given ourselves a chance.

“We had to go to Finland last year and score two goals, and we ended up doing that, so it shows anything is possible.

“With this team, we don’t know how to give in, and that is what pleased me more than anything from this game because we just kept going and going and got stronger and stronger as the match wore on.

“In the last 15 minutes, we were more the attacking side, so that has given me hope for next week.

“With us scoring late on and having the best of the game in the closing stages, that might put them on edge, and you have to remember it only takes a second to score a goal.”

Coyle’s side should have been finished long before Ward’s strike as Shelbourne created a host of chances before finally capitalising on their superiority in the 55th minute.

Glen Crowe, who just seconds earlier had missed a sitter, teed up the leading scorer in the eircom League for the last two seasons in Byrne for his 10th goal of the current campaign.

Byrne then appeared to make the tie safe 10 minutes later – and so set up a clash with 1986 European champions Steaua Bucharest – when he rifled home a penalty after Crowe had been brought down in the area by Glentoran captain Paul Leeman.

Glens, despite only recently starting pre season compared to the fact Shelbourne were playing the 26th competitive game of their campaign, then finished the stronger.

Shelbourne manager Pat Fenlon, though, is certain his side will progress as he said: “I am always confident we can beat teams.

“The team I have is full of good players, and I am confident we will get through. But we will have to work hard – as we did in this game – to finish them off.

“There is still a lot of pride at stake and Glentoran are not going to come to Dublin and lie down.

“I have previously been here as a player. We knew they were not going to surrender and that they would come back.

“They put us under a lot of pressure in the last 15 minutes, and when the home team scores a goal late on in the game, that gave them the impetus to try and get another.

“We sat deep, which I am disappointed about as with giving away the goal, but I don’t want to take the gloss off what was a very good performance from us before that.

“Before the game I would have settled for a 2-1 victory.”