Shelbourne are revving up just as their domestic duties subside and European demands increase.<\/p>\n
Joey O\u2019Brien\u2019s side have won seven of their last 10 games, a run which began by overcoming Linfield for a second time to secure a maiden spot in the league phase of the Conference League.<\/p>\n
One win in their final two league games, against Bohemians on Sunday or St Patrick\u2019s Athletic on Saturday week, should secure a third year on the trot of European action for the Reds.<\/p>\n
They\u2019ve six games in the league phase the aim is to build on the scoreless draw they carved out against Swedish Cup holders BK Hacken at their temporary home of Tallaght three weeks ago.<\/p>\n
Their debut away trip brings them all the way to Skopje in North Macedonia, the scene of two dire results for the Ireland team during the first tenure of Mick McCarthy.<\/p>\n
KF Shk\u00ebndija consider themselves of Albanian descent but drew attention across Europe by recording a 3-1 aggregate Champions League victory over FCSB, the team formerly known as Steaua Bucharest.<\/p>\n
Stadium issues at home in Tetovo has necessitated the fixture being switched to the capital, staged at the plush 33,500-seater Todor Proeski Arena.<\/p>\n
Like Shels, Shk\u00ebndija reached this stage by cascading through Uefa\u2019s pyramid, defeat to Qarabag hurtling them into the Europa, where Ludogorets pushed them further into the Conference. Their opening exchange in this six-game series saw them lose 2-0 to Spaniards Rayo Vallecano.<\/p>\n
After hosting the Swedes, Shels will host Drita (Kosovo) and Palace in Tallaght. Their other two away matches after this are in Netherlands against AZ Alkmaar and Slovenians Celje.<\/p>\n
They added \u20ac133,000 to \u20ac3.8m grossed from their exploits by collecting a first point. Banking \u20ac400,000 on Wednesday isn\u2019t unrealistic given the closeness in standard between the teams.<\/p>\n
Albeit O\u2019Brien was glad of the draw, he feels there\u2019s more from his team. He\u2019s maintained his stance that every game for Shels is winnable.<\/p>\n
Financial stability allowed them to tie down attackers and John Martin and Ali Coote on contract extensions, ensuring O\u2019Brien retains most of the squad for the 2026 season.<\/p>\n
It also enabled them to strengthen in the summer window.<\/p>\n
Milan Mbeng from Cork City, ex-Arsenal trainee Jack Henry-Francis and Dutch goalkeeper Wessel Speel have strengthened their depth with each playing their part in this late flourish.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Shelbourne are revving up just as their domestic duties subside and European demands increase. Joey O\u2019Brien\u2019s side have…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":98084,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1113,61,60,2539,5782,43,5783],"class_list":{"0":"post-98083","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ireland","8":"tag-fai","9":"tag-ie","10":"tag-ireland","11":"tag-league-of-ireland","12":"tag-local-soccer","13":"tag-news","14":"tag-premiership"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98083","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=98083"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98083\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/98084"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=98083"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=98083"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=98083"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}