Soccer UEFA Cup first round, first legShelbourne 2 Lille 2 The attendance was something of a disaster and the result may not have been quite what they were hoping for either but having come from 2-0 down thanks to goals from Glen Fitzpatrick there were still a few smiles to be seen in the Shelbourne camp.
Just short of 7,500 people were spread around the lower tiers on what was a wet and windy evening at Lansdowne Road and with Shelbourne playing poorly in the opening 45 minutes those that opted to watch the game from the comfort of their homes must have been feeling pretty pleased with themselves at half-time.
Shelbourne, though, have made a habit of rallying late in this European campaign with five of their previous six goals having come in the last 12 minutes of games. Last night Fitzpatrick managed two in the last 10 before coming close to grabbing a winner that would surely have gone down as a legendary piece of UEFA Cup larceny.
As it is the Dublin club go to France in two weeks time needing to play much better if they are to have any chance of progressing but it is a testimony to the character they displayed in the second half last night that Lille, who must take a share of the responsibility for surrendering such a commanding position, are not already in a position to put tickets on sale for the group stage games.
"I thought they made one or two changes that probably helped us," observed Shelbourne coach Eamonn Collins last night, "but then there is tremendous spirit in our side . . . we'd shown it against KR, against Hajduk and against Deportivo and we showed it again tonight."
For the home side all three of the evening's substitutions had a positive impact on the proceedings with Alan Cawley, Fitzpatrick and Ger McCarthy all performing strongly after Joseph Ndo who looked unfit, Thomas Morgan overwhelmed and Wes Hoolahan out of sorts, had all disappointed.
The arrival of Fitzpatrick, in particular, breathed some life into the attacking side of Shelbourne's game. Up until then Jason Byrne, who again missed a couple of good chances but did at least force one fine first-half save from Tony Sylva, had looked stranded up front by himself and the second striker had the immediate effect of making life much less comfortable for the French back four.
The previous two sides to bring European games to Lansdowne, Waterford and Limerick, had both lost and while Shelbourne's decision to follow suit a month ago had been richly rewarded the place felt very much like a graveyard for Irish club football again at the interval last night by which time Lille looked to have already ensured that they would leave for home with a win.
Things began to unravel for the home side before the game had even hit full stride with half of the home side looking well of the pace set by their French visitors and Owen Heary picking up a booking that he could ill afford given the workload he was to be presented with by Lille's left-sided attacking midfielder Philippe Brunel.
Very quickly, however, it became difficult to pinpoint specific causes for the problems Fenlon's men were encountering so widespread were the failings. In midfield, where Stuart Byrne and Alan Moore were badly missed, the hosts were simply overrun during the first period.
After 20 minutes Mathieu Bodmer put the visitors in front with a 25-metre strike that really shouldn't have beaten Steve Williams but the breakthrough had looked inevitable for some time before then and the Dubliners were very fortunate to make it to within a couple of minutes of the break without conceding another couple.
At the back the locals were struggling to contain their opponents. Williams had to save well on several occasions and Heary produced a couple of very good tackles while for most of the half Dave Rogers was the home side's best defender.
Ultimately, though, he undid much of the good work by committing the error that led to Lille's second goal with Matt Moussilou seeing his shot saved by the Welsh keeper only from Christophe Landrin to slip the follow up into the bottom right corner.
At that point it seemed that the hosts might lose by five or six unless they managed to steady themselves and their opponents lost interest in adding to the margin.
Both seemed to occur, though, and Fenlon's men looked far more purposeful through a second period in which they had restored much pride even before Fitzpatrick's two fine headed goals restored parity as well.
SHELBOURNE: Williams; Heary, Harris, Rogers, Crawley; Crawford; Hoolahan (McCarthy, 81 mins), Ndo (Cawley, half-time), Morgan (Fitzpatrick, 67 mins), Cahill; J Byrne.
LILLE: Sylva; Angbwa, Tavlaridis, Vitakic, Tafforeau; Dumont, Makoun; Landarin, Bodmer (Audel, 70 mins), Brunel (Chalme, 81 mins); Moussilou (Raynier, 76 mins).
Referee: C Kapitanas (Cyprus)
