Focus Turns Forward as Shels Face Dundalk and Bohs | OneFootball

Shelbourne FC face a double header over the May Bank Holiday weekend, with a trip to Dundalk FC at Oriel Park on Friday night before returning to Dublin on Monday to take on Bohemian FC at Dalymount in the SSE Airtricity League Premier Division.

Kick off on Friday night in Oriel Park is at 7:45pm, with Monday’s clash against Bohs also getting underway at 7:45pm. Both games are live on LOITV.

The Reds come into this double header following a 4-3 defeat to Drogheda United last time out, a game that saw Shels impress in the first half but ultimately come away empty handed.

Speaking to ShelsTV after training at the AUL earlier today, Joey O’Brien reflected on the week’s preparation: “It’s been a good week’s training. We were back in after the match on Saturday, went through the debrief and then it’s about looking forward. There’s not a lot to be gained from looking back too much, dwelling on defeats, we’re very focused on putting it right.”

O’Brien also provided an update on the squad: “Zeno is still out, he’s carrying an injury, but the long-term lads are making good progress. Milan Mbeng is back in training. Odhrán Casey is making progress and Mipo is working away and moving really well, so that’s all positive. Hope to see Mipo back involved sooner rather than later”

With two difficult fixtures ahead, O’Brien was clear on the challenge but equally confident in his group: “They’re good teams, but people need to remember we’re a formidable side. The lads need to remember who they are and focus on the success we’ve had.

We’ve looked at the last game, the first half was very good, but the second half wasn’t. It’s about getting that performance over 90 minutes and making sure we maintain our levels.”

On the recent run of results, the Shels boss was honest but focused on the solution: “These patches happen in football. Confidence and momentum in football are big and when they are low, the only way out of it is to win a game, that’s the aim now. People talk about tough weekend for Shels. No team looks forward to playing us, we have some top, top players here. They haven’t shown that as much as they should in recent games, we want to put that right”

Should he play, tomorrow will also mark a milestone for Harry Wood, who is set to make his 100th appearance for the club. O’Brien was full of praise for the Reds number 7: “It’s a great achievement. Harry has written his name into the history of the club with big moments. The goal in Derry, his performances in Europe last season, he’s a big game player and he’s really developed here.

He came in as a young player from Hull in the summer of 2023 with high technical ability, went away then to Grimsby and came back to us, and since then he’s worked really hard to develop and mature into a top player. It’s great to see. He’s a brilliant player.”

O’Brien also addressed the recent run “Football is very short sighted. People only remember the last result, and we know the run hasn’t been good enough for the level of player we have at this club.

We’re not making excuses, but people looking at these games from the outside should see that Dundalk and Bohs are looking at these as really tough fixtures for them.”

With a trip to Oriel Park followed by a away derby at Dalymount, Shelbourne have an immediate opportunity to respond and deliver the level of performance required over a crucial weekend in the league campaign.

Reflecting further on the Drogheda game, O’Brien pointed to key moments: “In the first half we were very good, we could have been three or four up, and they should have been down to ten men. But we didn’t show our experience, we let ourselves fall out of the game in the second half, gave away really really bad goals.

We need to shore it up at the back. That’s as simple as it is. We’re scoring goals. It’s all talk unless we turn it into action, and that’s what we need to do now.”