{"id":187495,"date":"2025-12-12T07:01:07","date_gmt":"2025-12-12T07:01:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/187495\/"},"modified":"2025-12-12T07:01:07","modified_gmt":"2025-12-12T07:01:07","slug":"shels-could-not-live-with-eagles-levels","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/187495\/","title":{"rendered":"Shels could not live with Eagles ‘levels’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Class will out, as they say. “Levels” was the word Shelbourne manager Joey O’Brien magnanimously used to describe the gulf in class that saw Crystal Palace inflict a 3-0 defeat on his charges<\/a> in their Conference League clash at Tallaght Stadium.<\/p>\n

Christantus Uche marked his first Palace start with an early opening goal, before Eddie Nketiah and Yeremy Pino put the Premier League side in total control ahead of the break.<\/p>\n

Palace \u2013 looking to avoid a play-off round in February \u2013 could have added to their tally in the second half, but substitute Romain Esse saw his shot come back off both posts.<\/p>\n

With just a solitary point to show for their efforts in five games to date, O’Brien didn’t attempt to quibble with the outcome when interviewed by RT\u00c9 Sport after the final whistle.<\/p>\n

“There are levels to this game,” he admitted. “We found out there tonight how good they really are.<\/p>\n

“We knew coming in that we were going to be up against it and they showed their quality.<\/p>\n

“As I said, football is about levels, and they are a different level to us.”<\/p>\n

The difference in quality between the two teams in Dublin 24 was stark, but O’Brien succinctly summarised it, opining: “There are so many things. That’s why they play at that level.<\/p>\n

“It’s the speed, the power, the pace of them, and how they move.<\/p>\n

“The standout thing for me was the first touch.”<\/p>\n

While Palace are preparing for a hectic festive period, Shelbourne players could be forgiven for readying themselves for festivities of a different kind, with their domestic season disappearing in the rearview mirror.<\/p>\n

However, O’Brien had no complaints on the application of his players and commended their attitude.<\/p>\n

“We knew what was at stake \u2013 an opportunity to play against Crystal Palace in Dublin in front of 10,000 people in European football,” he added.<\/p>\n

“It doesn’t come around too often, especially at the level that we’re operating at.<\/p>\n

“It was a great opportunity and I’m sure the lads were all pumped up for it.<\/p>\n

“I was really proud of our lads, sticking at it in the second half.<\/p>\n

“Obviously, at 3-0 down, the game was gone. But they chased it.<\/p>\n

“I told them ‘make sure you stay proud and be proud of who you are’ and go out second half and show it, stick at it. They did that.”<\/p>\n

\"Dublin
\nDaniel Kelly’s late chance was saved by Walter Benitez<\/p>\n

Shels substitute Daniel Kelly had the home side’s best chance of the game when he ran on to Sean Boyd\u2019s injury-time flick on only to see his effort brilliantly saved by Palace keeper Walter Benitez.<\/p>\n

The striker was still ruing that one that got away when he talked to RT\u00c9 Sport after the game.<\/p>\n

“Their back three is probably very quick. I found it hard a couple of times, but once I got into the game, I felt comfortable and I had the chance at the end,” Kelly said.<\/p>\n

“I don’t think I could do much more. I’ve caught it nicely and tried to just be big on connection and the keeper\u2019s made a great save.<\/p>\n

“A couple of slack passes from them allowed us to get a couple of chances. But, just a pity we couldn’t get a goal.<\/p>\n

A raucous Tallaght Stadium provided a home away from home for 2024 League Of Ireland Premier Division champions and \u2013 although it\u2019s not Tolka Park \u2013 the Dublin 24 venue helped bring a sense of occasion to the marquee fixture in Shels\u2019 European campaign.<\/p>\n

“Playing in Tallaght, it’s 10,000 there tonight and playing in front of everyone was something special. It’s unfortunate the result, but I think we gave a good account of ourselves,” Kelly said.<\/p>\n

“They’re obviously a step above the teams that we’ve played. They’re fourth in the Premier League for a reason. They’ve won the FA Cup last year. They’ve real quality all around the pitch and yeah, I think it was a step above really, to the teams that we played this year.<\/p>\n

“We gave a good account ourselves. It’s just a pity we couldn’t get a goal.<\/p>\n

“We’re obviously going a long time now, nearly a full year, considering the time we were back last year or the last year and preseason. It’s a pity a couple of lads have taken a knock the last couple of weeks, so we’re down a few bodies, but we can be proud of ourselves and I’m sure the manager is proud of us.<\/p>\n

“Brilliant atmosphere. These are the games you want to be playing in. These are the times you look back as when you retire, moments like this. I’m obviously proud where I came from and I think the manager was big on that \u2013 ‘remember where you came from\u2019.<\/p>\n

“We can be proud of ourselves and you never know, hopefully we can get a win next week.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Class will out, as they say. “Levels” was the word Shelbourne manager Joey O’Brien magnanimously used to describe…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":187496,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-187495","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187495","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=187495"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187495\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/187496"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=187495"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=187495"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=187495"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}