Fenlon to draw on experience

Shelbourne v Hibernians Tolka Park, 8.05: The prospect of a decent sized pay day against Boavista in the next round may be Shelbourne's primary concern going into this evening's Champions League qualifier against Hibernians of Malta at Tolka Park.

However, before they get carried away with preparations for a trip to Porto next week Pat Fenlon and his players must ensure they come through this tie with their pride intact.

No National League side has ever lost to Maltese opposition although Hibernians ran both Waterford and Dundalk close when they met the two Irish clubs a little over 20 years ago. On both occasions the Irish lost the away game 1-0 but did more than enough in the home leg to ensure their progression. The fact that Shelbourne did better, earning a comfortable 2-2 draw, on their travels last week goes some way towards explaining why Fenlon has been feeling a little let down by the reaction to his side's performance in that first leg.

"I've read some stuff and it's disappointing if people think the result in Malta wasn't good," he says. "But everyone played their part, we got off to a decent start and then lost a bit of shape but the second half was exceptional, I thought."

Fenlon has been around long enough, however, to remember a few Irish sides doing well away only to slip up when the tie appeared to be theirs for the taking. "It's been a problem," he sighs, "playing the first legs away, getting a decent result but then failing to kill teams off and getting hit on the break. It's a lesson we've learned, though, and we'll take it into this game."

With the visitors needing at least a high scoring draw to go through the Dublin club appears to be in a strong position going into the game - which is being televised live by RTÉ - but the hosts will need to be careful not to lose track of Hibernians' two highly capable strikers, Adrian Mifsud and Ndubisi Chukunyere, both of whom caused problems last week.

"Their front two are dangerous," says Fenlon, "so obviously we'll pay a bit of attention to them, but in general I'm more worried about us. If we start the game in the right way I don't see us having to worry about them too much."

His defence, which has conceded eight goals in three competitive games so far this season, will be his main concern particularly as he looks set to be without Kevin Doherty who is struggling to shake off a rib injury. Elsewhere, though, there are problems with Davy Byrne and Jim Crawford missing through injury and Stephen Geoghegan serving out the last match of a three-game suspension.

The home side should still have enough to come through, however, even against opposition that includes several international players. Chris Bennion, the newly-arrived goalkeeper who played against Manchester United at the weekend, is pushing to play again but Fenlon is likely to stick with Steve Williams and most of the side that started last week's first leg.

Doherty's absence will leave the way open for Barry Prenderville to start in central defence alongside Tony McCarthy and if that pair can contain the Maltese threat in the box then it is hard to see Shelbourne failing to progress smoothly to the next round.