Olympic Ljubljana v Shel$
First leg in Slovenia
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Olympic Ljubljana v Shel$
First leg in Slovenia
could have been a worse draw, at least ljubljana will be a treat for anyone who travels, it's like prague without the americans, should be a great away trip. i reckon shels could have a shot there too.
from www.eleven-a-side.com
Shelbourne have been pitted against Slovenian side Olympija Ljubljana in the qualifying round for the Uefa Cup, which will take place in August.
Provisionally, Shels must travel to Slovenia for the first leg on August 14th, with the second leg taking place at Tolka Park two weeks later.
Pat Fenlon’s side, currently atop the national league, qualified for European competition by virtue of their second place finish in the eircom League.
On paper a more difficult tie than Hibernians last year, but the differences are marked.
Last year, we ****ed on Hibs, but a combination of poor finishing, great goalkeeping and, on one occasion, overexuberance from Molloy kept us scoreless, while their only attack in the 90th minute got them a goal.
Last year we had started the season badly and Nutsy was just finding his feet as a manager. The back four were playing like total strangers, yet we were favourites to progress.
This year we have slumped somewhat from a bright start but we are still top of the league. Nutsy is over a year in the job and the back four have a great cohesion about them. Ljubljana have several internationals in their team, including Prosinecki, and have had great European results in the past. Whereas they would be favourites to progress, the combination of Olimpia's wretched run-in to last season and the fact that they are out-of -season might be enough to turn the tide in Shels favour.
I reckon $hel$ will beat them, though of course it is a difficult tie. It will be a step towards making amends for the embarrassment they caused the league and even the country by last year's disgraceful result
As a Shels fan, I don't feel in the least embarrassed by last year's result. Anyone who remembers the match rather than just the result knows that Shels disgraced nobody. They brought all eleven men behind the ball and then, somewhat predictably, caught us with a sucker punch. Devastated, yes, but not embarrassed. Thats football. **** happens. One bad result out of all our fine performances in Europe and people keep on harping on about it.