O'Brien summons underdog energy as Shels face Qarabag challenge

Head coach Joey O'Brien during a Shelbourne press conference at Tolka Park. Pic: Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile

Joey O’Brien has summoned the underdog feat of Tipperary’s hurlers as a motivation for Shelbourne to topple Qarabag in the Champions League.

The Azeri champions are European aficionados, seeing no reason, including the opposition of the Irish champions, to prevent them participating in group stages of competition for the 12th season in a row.

Over the past decade, they’ve faced Chelsea, Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur, Ajax, Sevilla, Atlético Madrid and Inter Milan on the European stage.

Of most recent memory was their 2024 clash against Bayer Leverkusen. Xabi Alonso squeezed his team through the last-16 tie 5-4 on aggregate in extra-time on their way to the Europa final.

Qarabag manager Gurban Gurbanov was already accorded Azeri footballing royalty status before he assumed his current position in 2008. He played in the country’s first-ever match in 1992 following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, going on to became their record goalscorer.

Expectation accompanies him not only at home but on his travels.

To illustrate the difference in records, Qarabag’s Uefa coefficient has swelled to 32 whereas Shels only last week rose to 8.5 from three on account of their first-round victory over Linfield.

The visitors hadn’t even sampled the Champions League when Shels last featured in 2005.

All the pointers gravitate towards the Reds slipping into the Europa League by the time next week’s second leg in Baku finishes, rather than facing Macedonians Shkendija or Romanians outfit FCBS in the lucrative third round.

O’Brien isn’t contemplating that consolation prize, adamant the tie is there to be captured with the aid of a pacey start before a sold-out Tolka Park.

“Irish people in general love being underdogs, don’t they?,” said the former Ireland defender with a smile, before referencing Sunday’s All-Ireland decider in which Cork were hot favourites.

“I was watching the hurling there at the weekend and it was the underdogs who won it. That is the way we are looking at this tie.

"The big thing for me is having no regrets after European games like this. This is a moment in a player’s career to go out and really embrace it.

“This is our home game so it’s on us to get the atmosphere going, get on the front foot and go after them.

“The way I want my team to attack is by showing our personality and quality.” 

That plan is certain to be determined by the attitude adopted by the visitors. Unlike Shels, they are out of season, their sole preparation being a training camp in Austria.

Throughout a cosmopolitan squad hardened by European experience. Captain Badavi Guseynov played both games against Ireland in the 2022 World Cup qualifying campaign, including the 1-1 draw in Dublin. 

Midfielder Abdellah Zoubir was once on the books of Scottish side Hibernian, when former Shels boss Pat Fenlon was manager.

There’s a Brazilian influence, led by full-back Matheus Silva.

“As a club, we approach our work with great responsibility,” said Gurbanov of their consistency across Uefa’s competition structure.

“At the management level, a system has been established where achieving success must be repeated every year at a minimum. We’ve always aimed to build a motivated team.

“Despite some changes, we've managed to maintain that spirit. Of course, there are challenges, and sometimes we don’t get the results we want. But we consider it a great success to have played in the group stages for 11 years.” 

A byproduct of Shels’ progression through the critical first hurdle is the guarantee of three European ties, ensuring two backdoors to the lucrative €3m group phase were they to come up short against Qarabag.

O’Brien, who will replace injured goalkeeper Conor Kearns with Lorcan Healy despite the new signing of Dutch stopper Wessel Speel, has implored his players to prioritise the kudos over cash.

“A lot is made of the finances but, from our point of view, this is a great opportunity,” he said.

“To win a Champions League win on your CV is brilliant for a player. To go into the next round and play against the opposition we are playing only comes about because we won the first tie.”