Shelbourne need to build on last year

On Soccer: A spell of poor mid-season form may be understandable and defeat in the final of the Setanta Cup might be viewed retrospectively as forgivable but even some of the Shelbourne players will probably admit if they lose to Glentoran over the two legs of their Champions League qualifying tie it will be fairly close to inexcusable.

Linfield's success in the revived cross-Border competition a couple of months back may have done a good deal to dent confidence down South regarding the state of the game but even allowing that there is little to choose between the best sides in the Irish and National Leagues. That the Dubliners are midway through their season while their opponents are hurriedly working on their fitness ahead of tomorrow night's first game underlines the fact it is the visitors who should be regarded as firm favourites.

"But strange things happen in football," observed Ollie Byrne when this was put to him yesterday, and few are more aware of that fact than the Shelbourne chief executive. Still, just about everything bar the Setanta Cup points to Shelbourne progressing to meet Steaua Bucharest in the second round of this qualifying tournament.

Neither side would fancy their chances against the Romanian champions but Shelbourne did demonstrate a resilience against quality European teams last summer that has been pitifully absent from quite a few international outings by Irish clubs down the years.

And after struggling for so long to make any sort of mark themselves in Uefa competitions Shelbourne have, despite some setbacks, made progress in recent years, most notably last year when, however overblown talk of them nearly qualifying for the group stages of the Champions League might have proven, they performed creditably against some good sides.

Glentoran competed in the Uefa Cup 12 months ago and did manage to progress one round (beating Alianssi of Finland) before going out to Sweden's Elfborg 3-1 over two legs but there is little else in the recent European record of northern teams to suggest they have anything much to offer here.

The Champions League, in particular, has proven a miserable affair for clubs from the six counties with none progressing beyond the first round since the current format of the competition was adopted eight years ago. You have to go back five years to find the last time a northern side scored a goal. Linfield managed two in 2000 as they went out on away goals to Haka (also of Finland).

In contrast, Eircom League clubs have made it past the first hurdle on four of the last five occasions. Hardly an extravagant boast given how far our clubs remain from where they want to be or considering that when Shelbourne did go out, three years ago, it was to Maltese opposition. However, even such modest achievement provides evidence of progress yielded by an increasingly full-time set-up, a more professional attitude and the shift to a summer season.

There remains, however, quite a way to go. Difficult as it remains to fathom the Republic's clubs are collectively ranked one place below Malta's in 40th place on Uefa's 51-long ranking ladder. Giants of the European game like Cyprus, Moldova and Latvia crowd around the 30 mark while Armenia, Wales, Liechtenstein and Albania separate us from our Northern neighbours, who lie 45th.

Despite winning the odd game, progress has been slow as the performances of Eircom League sides in the Uefa Cup has generally remained disappointing even as matters in the Champions League have shown some sign of improvement.

The Intertoto Cup, meanwhile, simply doesn't count in the five-year rolling points system that is used to rate competing nations.

Shelbourne's win over Sloga Jugomagnat five seasons ago combined with Bohemians' Uefa Cup defeat of Aberdeen and, just as importantly because it was in the first round proper which brings with it more points, their home leg success against Kaiserslautern, means the Irish teams will actually have to do reasonably well during the weeks ahead just to maintain the league's current standing.

Still, that should be achievable. It would be deeply disappointing if Longford were to go out against Carmarthen, a Welsh side who, like Glentoran, are badly out of season.

Cork City's encounter with Ekranas of Lithuania who, like Damien Richardson's side, currently lead their domestic league, is a good deal harder to call.

Richardson's assistant, Dave Hill, returned from a trip to watch them in action optimistic about the Irish club's prospects over two legs.

And overall there is little doubt that if Eircom League sides harbour serious hopes of progressing then both are the sort of games that they should be looking at winning.

Shelbourne against Glentoran, however, is likely to be the tie on which the present state of the league is assessed by neutrals who will be able to watch tomorrow's first encounter live on RTÉ 2 (7pm).

It should provide a minor boost for morale after the Setanta Cup in which results of cross-Border games, prior to the final, showed the leagues completely tied in terms of wins, draws, defeats, and even goals for and against.

Strange things happen in football, though, as anyone who has followed Irish clubs in Europe down the years can readily testify.