Conference League: Shelbourne 0 Hacken 0
A brave new world for Shelbourne Football Club. At times tonight the first outing in the group stages of European football seemed too steep an incline for Joey O’Brien’s team.
Plenty of Shelbourne players stood up and were counted against the Swedish cup winners, but this historic match will be remembered for Paddy Barrett’s heroics.
Time and again, Hacken curled, cut and whipped crosses into the danger zone. Barrett was always there, to nod clear or put his big frame in the way.
In the end, Shels broke free and had a genuine penalty shout when James Norris was clattered by Julius Lindberg.
READ MORE
Replays indicate that Lindberg made contact outside the area as Norris landed inside. Polish referee Pawel Raczkowski waved play on.
In the end, after surviving another late storm, 0-0 felt like a point earned as Barrett headed the last ball to safety.
Maybe it was the sheets of rain battering The Square end of Tallaght Stadium where most of the Shelbourne regulars had decamped from Tolka Park, but it took them a while to find their voice.
Perhaps the occasion felt too good to be true. Surreal even. But there they were, watching Mipo Odubeko, Harry Wood and Kerr McInroy let fly on Etrit Berisha’s goal as Hacken clung on in first-half injury time.
The visitors did not miss Amor Layouni, their Tunisian international and talisman, in the moments that they did spark to life. Whenever the ball found Mikkel Rygaard’s feet and the Dane turned, Barrett had to intervene.
A Hacken goal in transition seemed inevitable. They had the better technical players and a dangerous, young Ugandan centre forward in John Paul Dembe.
But besides two Rygaard shots on goal and another from Silas Andersen, Shels had the better chances early on.
Odubeko has made an encouraging return to Irish football this season without lighting up the League of Ireland. He really should have added to his 11 goals in all competitions before the break.
Filip Helander and Harry Hilvenius were well briefed on the former Ireland under-21 international as the big defenders made vital blocks as Odubeko tried to test Berisha.
In the 15th minute Odubeko did finish after Wood’s shot into a thicket of bodies fell kindly for him. The linesman’s flag for offside muted the celebrations.
There followed a sustained period of dominance from the visitors but Barrett and McInroy continually stood in the road.
Eventually, Shelbourne lifted the siege with McInroy shooting straight at Berisha before Wood was denied a spectacular goal by another block by Hilvenius.
O’Brien was paying close attention to the tactical battle. Hacken were using Shels back five against them by pushing four players up and inviting Rygaard to pick them apart.
Sure enough, Kameron Ledwidge did not reappear for the second half as O’Brien switched to a back four, shifted Wood to the right and introduced Evan Caffrey down the left wing.
The change in formation did not have the desired effect as Hacken monopolised possession and began to squeeze the European novices.
O’Brien reacted again, just before the hour-mark, replacing the more attacking Ali Coote with the more defensive Jack Henry-Francis.
But a slip by Henry-Francis prompted Andersen to send Danilo Al-Saed into the Shelbourne box. McInroy, again, intervened.
The tinkering appeared to backfire when Sean Gannon pulled up injured, which temporarily meant that James Norris, all 5ft 7in of him, had to partner Barrett at centre half until Mark Coyle arrived and they reverted to a back five.
Amid the now constant back-pedalling, JJ Lunney was doing Herculean work at the base of midfield. Largely unseen, joyless work to keep the reds connected from Barrett to Odubeko.
With 20 minutes remaining, as Norris cleared the latest low ball across the goal line, it seemed inevitable that the Swedes would give their teenage substitute Isak Brusberg a clean chance.
Sean Boyd for Odubeko, striker for striker, seemed like O’Brien’s next logical move but the Shelbourne manager decided that Wood and Odubeko needed to be replaced by the fresh legs of Daniel Kelly and John Martin.
Kelly and Martin understood the assignment, disrupting the Swedish efforts to build from deep. A valuable point earned. The €133,000 Uefa prize money for a draw is more than prize money for winning the league.
Shelbourne: Speel; Mbeng, Gannon, Barrett, Ledwidge (Caffrey 46), Norris; Wood, Lunney, McInroy; Coote (Henry-Francis 59); Odubeko.
BK Hacken: Berisha; Hilvenius (Al-Said 46), Lode, Helander, Lundqvist; Gustafso, Rygaard (Dahbo 76), Andersen; Lindberg, Dembe (Brusberg 61), Svanback.
Referee: Pawel Raczkowski (Poland).
