JOEY WILL GIVE IT A SHEL OF A SHOT AT GOING THROUGH

JOEY O'BRIEN is targeting progress to the knockout rounds in the Conference League.

- BY MARK McCADDEN

The Shelbourne boss is echoing the confidence shown last season by his former teammate Stephen Bradley, who made no bones about his ambitions with Shamrock Rovers.

O'Brien isn't ready to settle for his history-making achievement of guiding Shels to their first league phase campaign. He too is eager to pick up wins - starting tonight against Swedish side BK Hacken in Tallaght.

“The achievement of getting here is done now,” he declared. “We enjoyed that moment to get to group stages. But when you're here, it's about winning games.

“I had that view as a player and I have that as a coach. It's obviously the same thing.

“So for us, it's not about just being here, and happy to be here and rolling over and getting beaten in these games. It's about going out and performing and getting points.”

Shels will also face Shkendija (North Macedonia), Drita (Kosovo), AZ Alkmaar (Netherlands), Crystal Palace (England) and Celje (Slovenia).

And former Bolton, West Ham and Ireland defender O'Brien expects his players to be competitive in each of those fixtures.