Mark Coyle: 'That's the difference... that's European football'

RTÉ News​

24-07-2025

Mark Coyle had to stew on the bench for the first half of Shelbourne's Champions League second-round qualifier defeat to Qarabag last night, but he made his presence felt once called upon by boss Joey O'Brien at half-time.
Coyle - who has been nursing a knock to the knee for the last week - came on for Sean Gannon at the break with the Reds one down.
Having watched Qarabag skipper Abdellah Zoubir run the game for 45 minutes, he was in no mood to hold back.
A couple of meaty challenges helped to subdue Zoubir, albeit Qarabag did nab two late goals on the break that effectively killed this tie off ahead of next week's return leg in Baku.
That was a pity, given Shels were much improved on the turnaround, but Coyle said it's the harsh reality of coming up against a side who've made the group or league stages of European competition every year since 2014.
"Look, I think you could see the quality all over the pitch, especially from their attacking players, and that's the big difference that I saw, any small mistakes, anything, is punished," reflected Coyle.
"That's the level we were playing at.
"I think when you're on the bench, you're watching the game and seeing what you can do to impact it. I obviously know the quality they have, especially in the first half, I was thinking 'I don't want them running at me too much'. So when I came on - and I do think sometimes they don't like that, and (Zoubir) probably didn't - it's a way of, I don't know, making sure that you're at it and making sure he knows you're ready for him and that's all it really was.
"I think in the second half we had a real go, you could see that in the chances we created. We had chances to equalise and I felt if anybody was on the ropes it was probably them at that stage. But that's the difference isn't it? That's European football.
"They got a few chances and they absolutely punished us. We're obviously disappointed with the overall result, but there's a lot of positives also to take out of it, especially for the next few games coming up."
As is always the case against European teams of real pedigree, it was a game of fine margins for Shels.
Sean Gannon was centrimetres away from putting them ahead in the seventh minute, while Paddy Barrett hit the bar when it was 1-0. They could have claimed a draw on their own patch; instead, they will head for the heat of Baku next Wednesday evening (5pm kick-off) needing a miracle.
Still, Coyle insists there's no chance of the Reds going through the motions. They want to go there and fight.
"When we went away last year, we were in Zurich and Gibraltar and the heat was a massive factor but I think it's something we should learn and it's something we'll have to address and think about going into next week," said.
"At the same time, it's just reading the game isn't it? Knowing when you can and you can't (press) and that's the biggest difference - any small mistake is punished and you know you have to be at it for the full 90 minutes.
"We have to go there and try to win a game. If it's not 3-0... look, there's no denying, it's going to be a tough, tough ask. But we have to go out there and do what we can and make sure we put in a good performance and represent the club in the right way."