Troy Parrott of AZ Alkmaar and Mark Coyle of Shelbourne after the UEFA Conference League 2025/26 league phase match at AFAS Stadion in Alkmaar, Netherlands. Photo by Ben McShane/Sportsfile
Troy Parrott’s club boss was confident that the Dubliner would sleep well and not be distressed after drawing a blank as his AZ Alkmaar team did the needful and beat Shelbourne 2-0 to stay in the race for the knockout phase of the Conference League.
But for Shelbourne, their return of one point but no goals from four games in the group phase is another harsh lesson of life at this level of European football. A chance missed by Reds sub John Martin, when the tie in Alkmaar was scoreless, proved to be the turning point as AZ recovered well from that close shave and put Shels to the sword.