O'BRIEN REJEKS IDEA OF BEING DEFENSIVE

Shels manager taking offensive approach & has his troops ready for combat in Croatia

- BY DEREK FOLEY

SHELBOURNE may be 12/1 outsiders to beat Rijeka in Croatia this evening.

But the Irish side, who almost single handedly caused the IFA/FAI split, would be even-money if it came to trading war stories with their opposition.

Shels were ordered to replay the 1921 IFA Cup final in Belfast but the committee would not sanction Glenavon travelling to Dublin under martial law on a St Patrick's weekend as six IRA Volunteers were being hanged in Mountjoy.

The hangings would duly go ahead with 20,000 people kneeling in prayer outside the gaol in the rain; afterwards in a gun battle two Auxiliaries were killed and a dozen people wounded.

Rijeka are a former Serie A side, the area having been annexed by Mussolini in 1924, where playing under the name US Fiumana they won the Italian Cup in 1928 and were Serie C champions in 1941.