Linfield need 'ice in veins' against Shels

BBC News

2 days ago

Linfield boss David Healy has said it would be "wrong" to play on any derby element in his side's Champions League qualifying tie against Shelbourne.The former Northern Ireland striker brings his Irish Premiership champions to Dublin to face their League of Ireland equivalents, Shelbourne, on Wednesday night before the return in Belfast a week later.Both legs of the tie will be streamed live on the BBC Sport website and app."It's certainly not talked about north v south, that would be wrong of me to do that," said Healy."You have to play with a little bit of passion, a little bit of fire, but you also have to control that emotion."Like any European game, anything reckless, anything silly, will be punished, so play with ice in your veins and make sure we stay fully focused for 90 minutes."With Linfield provided with fewer than 300 of the approximately 3,500 tickets available for the game at Tolka Park, Healy is expecting Shelbourne fans to produce a stirring atmosphere in support of their side."It's going to be electric, Shelbourne have a really good crowd backing them," he said."With the way the atmosphere is going to be, one thing you don't want to be doing is chasing the game, or going behind and then facing an onslaught."Having won the Irish Premiership by 22 points last season, Linfield return to the Champions League after a two-year absence.Larne, who lifted the Gibson Cup in 2022-23 and 2023-24 made the league phase of the Conference League last season with the Blues looking to match the feat of European progression after some near misses in recent years.They were beaten by FK Qarabag only on away goals in the Europa League in 2019, before going down on penalties to RFS in the Conference League three years later."I think that's the club's end-goal, of course," said Healy."Financially it would be huge for the club. We're self-sustainable, we have no outside investment apart from what we bring in."European finance is huge for us."