Shelley under no illusions

SOCCER:IN THEORY he and his team-mates could be champions by the end of tonight's game in Galway United, but with Shamrock Rovers expected to beat Drogheda United at home and Galway proving to be something of a bogey team recently, Brian Shelley insisted he will be more than happy if Bohemians wrap up the title against Dundalk next week.

“The important thing is that it’s in our own hands now,” he said. “If we win our two games then it’s not going to make any difference what Rovers do at this stage.

“But it won’t be easy. They (Galway) have done well when they’ve come to Dalymount this year (winning twice) although in a way I think that’s a good thing because nobody on our side is going to be under any illusions about how hard it’s going to be going down there.

“Then there’s Seán Connor,” he continued. “I think there’s still a bit of bad blood between him and Bohemians and so he’s not going to want us to win the league down there. But Karl Sheppard will be a loss. I always get a tough game off him and he was good at Dalymount so I’d say he’s going to be a big loss for them.”

He’ll be joined on the sidelines, as it happens, by Stephen Walsh and Stephen O’Donnell who are suspended and injured respectively.

On the face of it, Bohemians should have nothing left to prove after the success of the last couple of seasons but Shelley admitted the players were stung by the venomous criticism they were subjected to after losing 4-0 to TNS in the second leg of their Champions League qualifying tie in July.

The club made much of the significance of the loss, insisting it had badly undermined its finances and players were asked shortly afterwards to effectively rip up their contracts so as to help it deal with its problems. Instead, they defied the odds by playing their way back into the title race.

“I think we’ve had one really bad night in two years, and that was the night of that game against TNS but a lot of people wrote us off after it; we took a lot of stick even from people within our own club and it would be great to prove them wrong. A lot of people jumped on the bandwagon, claiming we’d be gone after it, what with having no money and all that. But that’s what you want to hear in those circumstances because it helps drive you on.

“When you looked at the size of the gap (at the top of the table) and the way they (Shamrock Rovers) were playing, you wouldn’t have expected it to happen. But we’ve a very professional group, there’s a lot of experience within the squad, and that’s probably played a big part in getting us back to where we are now.

“To be fair, I think Dan Murray’s been a big loss for them. He’s been a rock for them and I don’t know whether it’s a coincidence that it’s since he’s gone, they’ve started slipping up, but I’d be looking at our results as well, not just at what they’ve done.”

Bohemians, in fact, are 10 games unbeaten in the league but they have problems to contend with this evening – Owen Heary is back but Killian Brennan is suspended while Jason McGuinness and Mark Rossiter are both injured – as well as a fairly comprehensive cup defeat to bounce back from.

“I thought Sligo were excellent last week, probably the best team I’ve played against from the league here over the last couple of years. But we got over it pretty quickly because we’re two points clear with two games to go.

“Now, we don’t have the distraction of having to think about going and playing at the Aviva Stadium in a few weeks, not that that wouldn’t have been a nice distraction to have; it would, but the way things have turned out we can focus 100 per cent on these two games.”