David Sneyd reports from Windsor Park

JOEY O’BRIEN HAILED “a magical and fitting night” for Irish football as he paid tribute to legendary League of Ireland figure Ollie Horgan after news of his death emerged in the hours before both Shelbourne and Shamrock Rovers secured qualification for the league phase of the Uefa Conference League.

The Reds boss revealed that he had been in contact with Horgan over the last few weeks and reckoned the historic success of both Shels and Rovers would have him “smiling down” as two teams progressed in the same season.

“Not many people would have thought five years ago, 10 years ago, that you’d have two teams in European group football. It’s a magical night, touching on Ollie passing away, I think it’s a real fitting night for Irish football, and maybe a fitting night for him and a fitting tribute to him as well,” O’Brien said.

“Tonight was all about the players, the fans, the people in the background. It was a great night for Irish football as well as Rovers qualifying and ourselves qualifying. And obviously a legend passing. And for me, it was a real fitting night, I suppose, for the two teams to get through in Irish football, with Ollie Horgan passing away. I’ve had a few texts with him over the last few weeks. Yeah, such a great man. Please God his family are all right. Maybe he’s smiling down.”

O’Brien took charge of Shels in June after Damien Duff’s shock resignation and the pair’s friendship remains strong, with the Shels boss saying they will meet up for a drink soon to toast a success that wouldn’t have been possible without him.

“I have a personal relationship with the manager, and obviously his handprint is all over this team and all over this achievement. I stopped playing football at Shamrock Rovers because he rang me, and I don’t think I would have done that for any other person or any other manager,” the Dubliner said.

“Ultimately that was about my own, obviously, age, but also wanting to continue on and wanting to learn off someone and that’s what I’ve done over the last few years and it’s been great and supporting me as a coach and things that I’ve brought in.

“It’s had a massive, massive impact on me and ultimately a lifelong friend. So away from this and whatnot, I have a personal relationship with Damien and we speak regularly all the time. I go out and have a beer with him and I’m sure we will now. He’s not here obviously, but had a huge part in the success.”

Touching on his time at Rovers, O’Brien also said their progress in Europe – this will be their third Conference League campaign in four seasons – has provided inspiration.

“I think over the years it’s grown and Rovers have set that obviously, and that’s what teams want. Teams want to keep going. When you see another team doing it, you’re thinking, ‘well, we can do it as well’. That was an opportunity, winning the league allows you that, the pathway and stuff like that, that you can get. So you need to take advantage of that, and that’s something that we wanted to do.

“It’s about the players. It’s all about the players for me. Obviously, that’s what football is all about. It’s about having that quality. As I said, I wouldn’t have taken the job if I didn’t believe in the players and didn’t believe in the quality that we have in our squad.

“Here, since I’ve taken over we’ve probably left points behind in the league, really, we looked at a couple of, especially the first couple of performances, Galway and Watford, absolutely dominated. We left points behind, but in Europe I think we’ve really been good. Put it up to good teams and stuff like that.

“It’s a great achievement for the lads in there, so I touched on it myself. I think playing European football, when I was a kid and young, I remember the manager at the time just speaking about that, ‘Don’t take this for granted, you think it’s happening or you think it’ll happen again. It may never happen again, you know, so make sure you enjoy it and make sure you embrace it and don’t have any regrets’. So, yeah, it’s great for the lads that they’ve qualified and ultimately have this achievement.”