Shelbourne set for Conference League playoff after late Europa defeat
Shels’ Paddy Barrett dejected after the game. Pic: Ryan Byrne/Inpho
Four days out from Oasis visiting nearby Croke Park, Shelbourne will look back in anger at blowing a route into the Europa League playoff.
Defeat over two legs doesn’t end their chances of group stage participation and prize-money swelling to €3.8m but they’ll have to beat either Linfield or Vikingur Gøta in the Conference League playoff for their mission to be accomplished.
As expected, Rijeka upped the ante from last week’s 2-1 home defeat, scoring in each half to turn the tie, but Shels thought they’d have extra-time to deliver the scalp once Mipo Odubeko’s penalty was scored with four minutes later.
That wasn’t the case, for they’ve only themselves to blame for switching off as stoppage time loomed.
It brought a flat end to a boisterous night and an epic tie. Shels can’t afford to come out on the wrong side of another classic when they enter the last-chance saloon.
Radomir Dalović had no choice but to be adventurous to not only save his club the ignominy of an upset but also his job.
All bar two of his Rijeka team hailed from nations that emerged from the former Yugoslavia. The one he was most pleased about including was Toni Fruk.
His red card in the Champions League exit to Ludogorets banned him for the first leg but the artillery of the visitors revolved around his repertoire.
Shels needed everything to complete the shock, one of the reasons they applied the necessary upgrades within their rickety home venue to avoid moving across Dublin City to Tallaght Stadium.
That would have facilitated a capacity of 9,000 but lacking the trademark hostility that guests are subjected to inside the compact Drumcondra home.
Despite Uefa restrictions reducing the crowd to the 3,600 available seats, fans turned out early to build the atmosphere.
A banner unfurled from the Riverside stand read ‘Spirit of ‘04’, in homage to the famous Champions League victory over HNK Hajduk Split.
Bertie Ahern was Taoiseach then, and he was back at Tolka Park, forming an eclectic array of guests in the directors’ box.
Ireland manager Heimir Hallgrímsson was an interested observer and another figure of international renown, David Healy, was present, scouting for a potential rematch against his Linfield side.
Stephen Cluxton was a guest of his former All-Ireland winning colleague Mossy Quinn, now chief executive of Shelbourne, while the infamous referee for the Thierry Henry handball incident in 2009, Martin Hansson, acted as Uefa’s referee observer.
It would be interesting to discover if he agreed with the decision of official Marian Barbu not to award Shels a penalty inside three minutes.
Ali Coote should have lifted the ball over the advancing Martin Zlomislić before being shoved but the contact just inside the box was excessive. There would be redemption by the home crowd for the whistler later.
Against such talented opponents, those moments are critical. Shels did conjure a couple more openings in the first half, primarily by counterattacking a Rijeka side fluid in possession.
Brave blocks by Paddy Barrett and Kameron Ledwidge – coupled with the wall repelling Fruk’s free-kick – kept them at bay as goalkeeper Wessel Speel was hardly called upon.
Ante Majstorović volleying wide off a corner signalled danger but there was nothing the stopper could do for a rasping opener by Fruk on 33 minutes.
He didn’t require any back-lift to crack a volley off his left foot from 20 yards out that dipped beyond the Dutchman.
Although that concession brought the tie level on aggregate and removed a degree of fervour, Shels should have equalised on the night straight away.
Kerr McInroy popped in the box from a James Norris knockdown but couldn’t steer his close-range volley past Martin Zlomislić. Coote was first to react without replicating his strike against Linfield, fizzing his rebound wide.
Martin’s introduction offered an injection upfront for the Reds and just seven minutes in, he dashed clear from McInroy’s pass. His unselfish cutback met the toe of Odubeko without the striker applying the necessary accuracy to keep it on target.
Apart from in-demand Niko Janković firing a deflected shot into the arms of Speel, Shels were untroubled until another screamer of a goal swayed the tie away from their grasp.
Joey O’Brien is entitled to be livid at the absence of pressure on Tiago Dantas when receiving the ball unattended but must credit the Portuguese player for floating a peach of a shot into the top corner from 30 yards.
Behind but unbowed, Shels persisted into the dying stages.
Five days after Rijeka were unable to cope with Martin in the box, it was a similar story but this time Ante Oreč opted to foul him as he stretched for an 82nd-minute header.
Four minutes elapsed for a VAR check to award the spot-kick, enabling Odubeko to squeeze his shot under the arm of the Bosnian goalkeeper into the right corner.
Oreč went from zero to hero within three minutes, swivelling inside the box to fire his low effort into the far corner.
More of a wonderball than wonderwall for the Croatians.
They march on to meet the winner of PAOK and Wolfsberger for a Europa League berth.
W Speel; P Barrett, S Bone, K Ledwidge; M Mbeng, K McInroy (D Kelly 90), JJ Lunney (E Caffrey 78), J Norris (E Chapman 78); H Wood, A Coote (J Martin 46); M Odubeko.
M Zlomislić; A Majstorović, S Radeljić, M Devetak; M Ndockyt, T Dantas, D Petrovič, N Janković; A Oreč, T Fruk; AM Jurić (J Lasickas 75).
Marian Barbu (ROU).
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