Shelbourne FC - Champions 2003, 2004

In 1962 Shelbourne suffered a 7-1 drubbing at the hands of Sporting Lisbon, although keeping the score down to 2-0 at home was a feat well done for the lads and Hennesey getting an away goal. In 1963 it wasn't as bad for the Shels when we got beaten 5-1 by Barcelona in the Fairs Cup. The home score was also respectable at home only going down 2-0 and Bonham getting an away goal through a penalty. After a 1-1 agg draw with Beleness in the Fairs Cup in 1964, 0-0 at home and 1-1 away this time Barber with a goal it went to a play-off. With Shelbourne drawn at home they got a good 2-1 victory with Hannigan and M.Conroy getting goals Shels were rewarded with a tie against Athletico Madrid. Shelbourne lost 2-0 on agg but only lost 1-0 on each leg. This was by far their best campaign for many years. In 1971 Shels suffered a 2-1 defeat at the hands of Vasas in the UEFA Cup. Murray scoring in a 1-1 draw at home for shelbourne.

Now onto the '90's, this is where Shelbourne showed signs of improving their European adventures. It didn't start too well though with a 2-1 agg score line against Tavria in the Champions Cup in 1992. Dully scored for Shels in an away defeat for the club. In the cup Winners Cup in 1993 it was a different story against Kaparty. Shelbourne won 3-2 on agg including a second leg 3-1 home win with Costello, Mooney and Izzet all on the scoresheet. In the next round they got a tie against Panathinaikos and were quickly brought back down to earth with a 5-1 defeat on agg. Mooney again scoring in a 2-1 home defeat. In the UEFA Cup in 1995 Shelbourne were crushed 6-0 on agg by Alkanets, enough said about that. The following year was also a disappointment for Shels with this time a 5-2 agg defeat at the hands of SK Brann.

In the Champions League Qualifier 1st round in 2000 Shelbourne drew little known team Sloga Jugomagnat. An away goal for Richie Baker sealed a 1-0 away win for Shels, this being the first away win for a National League club in the Champions League. A 1-1 draw at home in which Haylock scored saw Shelbourne through to the next round. For this round we drew Rosenborg of Norway. Although we lost 3-1 at home and drew 1-1 away it was a classic tie and was allot closer than the the scoreline indicates and Shels certainly had Rosenborg rattled on many occasions. Rosenborg qualified for the Champions League group stages eventually finishing 3rd in their group and being put in the draw for the UEFA Cup.

In 2000/2001 Shels visited Sloga Jugomagnat in the CL Q1 and came away with a 1-0 victory courtesy of a goal from youngster Richie Baker. In the Second leg Shels didn't fair as well, drawing 1-1 with Gary Haylock knocking home for Shels. This took them through to the Second Qualifiers being drawn away to Rosenborg of Norway in the first leg. Shels played quite confidently, but eventually loosing 3-1 with Foran scoring for Shels. In the second leg Shels had high hopes of beating Rosenborg but fell 1-0 behind, only for Foran again to score against the Norwegians in was was a well played 1-1 draw.

In 2001/2002 Shels drew Brondby of Denmark, again, playing away in the first leg. Shels played excellent in the first leg, but some questionable refereeing and Geogho being sent off, saw Shels loose 2-0 in a game that could've been totally for Shels had luck swung their way. In the second leg, shels hoped to pull the deficit back, but seemed to crumble under the pressure and loosing 3-0, 5-0 on agg, which was a major disappointment for the Reds.

Hibernians of Matla were Shels opponents in the CL qualifiers in 2002/2003. Shels put in a good away performance, drawing 2-2 with S Byrne and Gannon the scorers. At home once again had a disappointing turn in Europe, loosing 1-0 and getting knocked out 3-2 on agg.

2003/2004 held more of the same with Olimpija Ljubljana of Slovenia the opposition this time. We held our own with a 0-0 draw and extremely high expectations of progressing, but falling 3-0 behind with Shels pulling 2 goals back, saw us crash out 3-2 on agg, in what was a major shock for all Shels fans considering some fairly good results in previous years.

2004/2005 season saw Shels live up to, and exceed all their expectations. In the First Qualifying for the CL, Shels drew KR Reykjavik and got a 2-2 away draw, with Moore scoring and an OG for Shels with two valuable away goals won. 0-0 was the score, and Shels fans were delighted to be through to the next round against Hadjuk Split of Croatia. Shels were favourite to loose this, but did extremely well loosing 3-2 away in the first leg, picking up two valuable away goals courtesy of Fitzpatrick and Moore. Shels home form in Europe had been somewhat dodgy in recent years and had to be on guard of the experienced Croats taking the game to us. But Shels played some top quality football and won 2-0 (4-3 on agg) with a wonderful left foot volley from Rangers that even Ronaldo would have been proud of and a goal from Fitzpatrick. That took Shels to the final qualifying phase against the mighty Deportivo LaCoruna of Spain, this time Shels been drawn at home first, in a match they were favourite to loose. This game was moved out of Tolka Park and to Lansdowne Road. Shels played superbly against Deportivo, and in some parts out played them! A 0-0 scoreline was achieved by Shels against their biggest challengers of all time. The away leg was equally as good, and all though Shels lost 3-0, it a couple of the goals were late, and once again, Shels did play some good football and were praised for their overall performance, in what is probably their best scoreline to date. That took Shels adventure to the last qualifying match in the UEFA Cup against Lille of France. Shels were drawn at home again, but found themselves down 2-0 to the French. Shels left it late but fought back and earned a 2-2 draw with two great headers from Fitzpatrick. In the second leg in France, Shels failed to put pressure on the Lille defence from the air like they successfully did in the first leg and ran out eventual 2-0 (4-2 on agg) losers. This season was not only the most successfull run for Shels, but any League of Ireland club and will be remembered for many many years to come.

Can Shels emulate recent success again, well have to wait and see....

Shelbourne V Rangers
Shels playing at 'Home' for the first leg seemed great, but the 'Home' match had to be moved to Prenton Park the home of Tranmere Rovers. Shels scored very early on in the match which was an excellent start for the Shels who were underdogs in the match. Shels stunned Rangers fans and there own fans by going 3-0 up the goals coming from a Porrini own goal and Rutherford and Morely. Shels seemed to be on top of the world but a couple of handballs later and a bit of dodgy defending, shels to the shock of everyone found themselves 3-5 down.
	After that shock scoreline shels still managed to bring a good few supporters to the away match at Ibrox. The media and the general public were expecting Shels to get thrashed but they done extremely well and only went down 2-0 to an early goal and a late goal.