IT'S BACK TO THE FUTURE

O'Brien tells his players to stay focused and enjoy Blues tie

- PAUL O'HEHIR

SHELBOURNE are going back to the very start in their pursuit of an historic - and lucrative - European breakthrough.

When Shels and Linfield met in the first round of the Champions League last month, it was a hyped, novel pairing that naturally sparked All-Island commentary.

There was plenty riding on it, with the 2-1 aggregate win allowing Shels to open the door to the 'champions path' and tap into the various parachute options it affords.

Shels ventured to Azerbaijan and then, in the Europa League, to Croatia only to find themselves back where it all started with a winner-takes-all clash against the Blues.

After losing to Shels, Linfield dropped straight into this Europa Conference League and have seen off competition from Lithuania and Faroe Islands to reach this point.

The difference now for Shelbourne is there are no more safety nets as they look to make history over these two legs and reach the group/league stage for the first time.

Doing so would also swell the coffers by an impressive €3.8 million and extend their season until the week before Christmas, at the very least.

So while there's a strong smack of familiarity going into tonight's first leg it's a position Reds boss Joey O'Brien would have taken at the start of summer.

"At the very start, when the balls were taken out of the pots, if you had been offered a chance to qualify for group stages, you'd have taken the hand off you," he said.