
Shels' home European record examined as Linfield win extends run to 11 games
Not since a 1-0 defeat in 2003 to Olimpija Ljubljana have the Reds lost at home in continental competiton.
It's some record when you consider that they have played Hajduk Split, Deportivo La Coruna, Lille, Steaua Bucharest and FC Zurich in that run.
O'Brien was delighted to keep it going on Wednesday night against Belfast side Linfield, when Mipo Odubeko's second-half goal earned the League of Ireland champions a slender first-leg advantage.
'It was brilliant,' said O'Brien. We spoke about our record here as a football club, Shelbourne at home, we spoke about that, our record's fantastic and we wanted to continue that on.
'I just spoke to the lads before the game, just sort of said to them, this is what it's about, this is what you want to be involved in as a kid, playing Champions League football. Don't let this opportunity go by.
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'There's been so much talk about this football club over the last few weeks, about myself, the manager leaving, all that sort of stuff. I wanted the focus to be on them.
'I said to them, 'At a quarter to eight, make sure you're ready to rock, go out and do your talking out on the pitch. There's too much noise around this football club. Let's show everyone how good of players we are'.
'And I thought we done that."
2004/05 Champions League
0-0 KR Reykjavik (Iceland)
2-0 Hajduk Split (Croatia)
0-0 Deportivo La Coruna (Spain)
2004/05 UEFA Cup
2-2 Lille (France)
2005/06 Champions League
4-1 Glentoran (Northern Ireland)
0-0 Steaua Bucharest (Romania)
2006 Intertoto Cup
4-0 Vetra (Lithuania)
1-0 Odense (Denmark)
2024/25 Europa Conference League
2-1 St Joseph's (Gibraltar)
0-0 FC Zurich (Switzerland)
2025/26 Champions League
1-0 Linfield (Northern Ireland)
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RTÉ News
32 minutes ago
- RTÉ News
Preview: Athlone out to claim famous European victory
Women's Champions League Round 1 Qualifier final Athlone Town v ZNK Agram, Athlone Town Stadium, 4pm (live updates on RTÉ Sport Online, available to stream on LOITV) It's a huge day for Athlone Town's women's team. Formed five years ago, they're now potentially just 90 minutes away from a significant stride forward in the Champions League. The old 16-team group stage has been replaced by an 18-club league phase, and to get there you must come through three rounds of qualifying. Athlone - the reigning SSE Airtricity Women's Premier Division champions - are in the first qualifying round. On Wednesday they breezed through the semi-final with a 4-0 hammring of Cardiff City. This afternoon, the challenge will be greater as Croatian outfit ZNK Agram come to Lissywollen. Colin Fortune's side rose to the occasion on Wednesday; they must rouse themselves again if they're to set up a Round 2 clash against the Icelandic champions Breiðablik. Last year Peamount United were beaten 2-1 in the Round 1 qualifier final by Osijek, Croatia's most successful women's team. The plucky Peas acquitted themselves well but ran out of gas in tough conditions. Temperatures were in the 30s, and Osijek were playing on home soil. Athlone have the considerable advantage of being on their own patch today in front of a partisan crowd in more forgiving weather. It'll be mild and overcast at the Athlone Town Stadium, with the midlanders hoping to feed off the energy of another big attendance. Over 1900 supporters watched them dismantle Cardiff - a huge turnout that signified the local interest in this team's European adventure. Athlone know all about defying the odds of course. They still talk about the famous 0-0 draw against AC Milan back in 1975, and the narrow 3-2 loss against Standard Liege eight years later. The men's team has been floundering of late; they're bottom of the First Division table having endured a tough season. The arrival of American Nick Giannotti as the club's new owner at the start of this month has given the club a shot in the arm, but it's the women's side - who have been on an upward curve since their entry into the league - who are once again leading the charge on the field. Fortune had injury concerns about Izzy Groves, Madie Gibson and Kelly Brady on Wednesday but all three started and excelled in a dominant display. Agram would also have noted the performance of Hannah Waesch, brilliant in the middle of the park, while Roisin Molloy served more notice of her quality with a brace of goals. This is a strong Athlone outfit - creative and tough. But what can we expect of their opponents? In the middle of last season, six of Osijek's best players joined Agram after going on strike due to a dispute over bonuses in the wake of their Champions League run a year ago. Zagreb-based Agram comfortably won the league, wrapping up their campaign with a 4-0 defeat of Osijek. They've played four friendlies to sharpen up for this crucial showdown, beating Slovenian sides Primorje (12-0), Radomlje (4-1) and Ljubljana (1-0), as well as the Austrians LUV (12-1). "Athlone brought in eight Americans and they have great ambitions, but so do we," said Agram head coach Vanja Kovac, who succeded Ivica Milkovic in late June. "We have shown that we have quality, a great combination of youth and experience, and we are going for a win and passage to the second round." Agram have to rent their pitch, and their players are in a similar boat to Athlone's in that they're essentially semi-professional. This is also their first time in the Champions League. "Our biggest problem is that we do not have our own infrastructure," club president Nikola Domitrović told Croatian sports newspaper Sportske Novosti in May. "We are a homeless club, we rent the courts of other clubs to be able to play. "The official budget last year was about €150k. "Osijek, Dinamo and Hajduk certainly have a bigger budget than us." Defender Maja Lena Bicanic added: "We have the status of professional athletes. By some definition, the salary of a professional athlete should be enough for a normal life, but we are not yet at that level because women's football is not so developed or watched. "We are not yet at the level where we can make a living from women's football, but we are making progress. You can't make a living from women's football." It's a huge occasion for both clubs. Athlone were impressive on Wednesday, but Agram will be a much tougher nut to crack.


Irish Daily Mirror
3 hours ago
- Irish Daily Mirror
Athlone Town v ZNT Agram: Where to watch free stream of Champions League clash
Shauna Brennan says Athlone Town are relishing the opportunity to crank it up a level against Croatia's league winners ZNK Agram. The midlanders, currently table-toppers as they defend their first Women's Premier Division title, easily dismissed the challenge of Cardiff City in their Champions League first qualifying round tie last Wednesday. The visitors will be a class - or two - above the Welsh visitors but Brennan insists there is no fear in the Athlone camp as they seek the win that will progress the club to round two and a meeting with Icelandic champions Breiðablik. "This is where we want to be," declared the defender. "We want to play in Europe, we want to test ourselves against the best sides. This is what we play for. "Hopefully, we can get the job done and progress and see how we can get on in the later stages but of course, it's one game at a time. This Croatian side is what we're focusing on now and that's what all our energy will go into. "We've done our homework but it's hard to tell really with teams that are outside of our own league and we can't see them playing against anybody in our own league," she said. "But it'll definitely be a different challenge on Saturday and we're expecting that. We know that we've only half the job done. Wednesday means nothing without Saturday, so that's our focus." Where is the game taking place? The first warm-up game is at Lissywollen Stadium, Athlone. What time is kick-off? The game kicks off this afternoon at 4pm. Where can I watch it? The match isn't being shown live on terrestrial TV but it can be streamed for free (registrations required) on LOI TV. Decision Brennan faced a tough decision ahead of last season when she opted out of the Galway football panel to focus on playing for Athlone and her medical studies in NUIG. The choice paid off as she was involved in an historic season for the club and the team has continued where it left off, despite the loss of Ciaran Kilduff as manager just hours after the FAI Cup final defeat to Shelbourne. "And now to be playing European football this year, if you had told me that three years ago, I would have told you you were lying," smiled Brennan. "Ciarán we all got along with very well. Colin (Fortune) is in now to take his place and we've really just gotten on so well and taken it week by week, doing our bit on and off the pitch. We really have just stuck together through it." Brennan and her colleagues played in front of a sold-out home crowd for the first time in the 4-0 defeat of Cardiff and she is hoping for the same again today. "It was great to see the support from everybody in Athlone to actually sell out the stadium," the 21-year-old said. "We were hoping it would be a sell out, but obviously that depends on the fans and it was great to see them all come out in their blue and black. "I think it helped us in the first 10 minutes. We hit the ground running and the crowd really got behind us to do that, they definitely did help us to get up for the game and be ready. "Everybody seemed to have such an energy. I think that probably came from the crowd and the occasion. We all wanted it and I think you could see that. We came out of the blocks very fast and thankfully we got a few goals to get us in at half-time. "I'm sure it will be the same again, we'll be hoping to start quickly and get at them and impose our game on them rather than worrying about them. "We know they're going to be a new challenge. They're going to be a good side. They've won the Croatian League but we'll look at their key players and we'll be ready for whatever comes at us." Get the latest sports headlines straight to your inbox by signing up for free email .


Irish Independent
10 hours ago
- Irish Independent
‘We've only half the job done' – Athlone's Shauna Brennan targets Champions League progression with tough four-day turnaround
A reward for Wednesday's 4-0 trouncing of Welsh side Cardiff City was another qualifier, also at home, against a more experienced Agram from Croatia, where the winners of that one-legged tie will move into the semi-final stage of the qualification rounds, where likes of Roma and Sparta Prague are already through with a bye. Athlone's players were all making their Champions League debuts against Cardiff and they are keen to extend their European season as far as possible. "It'll definitely be a different challenge on Saturday and we're expecting that. We know that we've only half the job done. Wednesday means nothing without Saturday so that's our focus,' says Athlone's Galway-born Shauna Brennan. "We know they're going to be a new challenge, they're going to be a good side. They've won the Croatian League but we'll look at their key players and we'll be ready for whatever comes at us.' Town's home ground was packed for the Cardiff game and another sell-out is expected for the visit of the Croatians as Brennan says that – despite the gloss of that 4-0 scoreline – the crowd did play a role. 'We haven't had a crowd like that before. It was a record crowd so it was great to see the support from everybody in Athlone to actually sell out the stadium. We were hoping it would be a sell out but obviously that depends on the fans and it was great to see them all come out and they're in blue and black,' she says. "I think it helped us in the first 10 minutes. We hit the ground running and I think the crowd really got behind us to do that and it helped us to win them tackles, the cheers from the crowd. They definitely did help us to get up for the game and be ready.' With a debate within the game overall about recovery and a mandated rest period between games, it's a big ask for the Athlone players – many of whom are part-time – to turn around and play two Champions League ties in four days. "It's tough,' says Brennan, who parked her Gaelic football career with Galway to focus on soccer with Athlone. 'We do have a lot of players that are full-time in Athlone but then there's the likes of myself and some of the other girls that are working or in college. "We stayed up on Wednesday night to get our recovery in and we'll do a light session on Friday night, a walkthrough probably and we'll be ready to go.'