HEADING TO GO play Champions League at age 37 and Ronaldo isn’t.
- HAO-7
A tongue-in-cheek tweet from Shelbourne’s USA superstar Heather O’Reilly ruffled a few feathers and sent tongues wagging as the Reds departed for Slovenia on Tuesday.
Heading to go play Champions League at age 37 and Ronaldo isn’t 🤣 HAO-7 pic.twitter.com/t7a8ph9or4
— Heather O'Reilly (@HeatherOReilly) August 16, 2022
CR7 fans weren’t too pleased, HAO ones enjoying the laugh, as Ronaldo’s future at Manchester United and the slim prospect of one last Champions League dance continues to dominate the football headlines.
The presence of O’Reilly, a 231-cap US icon, World Cup winner and three-time Olympic gold medallist, should surely see Shelbourne’s European adventure the subject of a few more.
This is what she came here for.
The opportunity to play Champions League football is ultimately why the 37-year-old mother-of-two came out of retirement, after all.
“Me and Ronaldo, one more go at the Champions League — or in my case, one go at it,” she laughed, as she announced the news on the BBC World Football podcast, which she co-hosts, last month.
O’Reilly went on to explain the long-held ambition, and how this “one hole on my resume” really bothered her. After playing under legendary manager Arsene Wenger at Soccer Aid this summer, she decided to chase the dream and reached out to Shels.
“Arsene Wenger was the catalyst to get me out of retirement,” she grinned, “get the boots back on and give it a go with Shelbourne FC.”
And so, here she is, part of Noel King’s side ready to give it a go in Slovenia. An undoubtedly difficult challenge lies ahead as they face ZNK Pomurje in their Round One semi-final at the Fazanerija Stadium this evening [KO 4.30 Irish time, live stream on nzs.si].
The Murska Sobota venue has been a happy hunting ground for Irish sides recently, St Patrick’s Athletic prevailing there in the Europa Conference League three weeks ago after beating NS Mura on penalties.
Shelbourne’s opponents Pomurje have reached the knockout stages twice in the past seven years, while only two Irish sides have ever done so: Peamount United in 2011 and Raheny United — who amalgamated as Shels — in 2014, with Wexford Youths the only other club to fly the flag in the competition since the inception of the Women’s National League 11 years ago.
From the outside looking in, the Slovenian league appears further developed and better resourced, but King and co. are optimistic ahead the showdown, in which a win would secure a Round One final spot against Valur (Iceland) or FC Hayasa (Armenia).
The only way to keep group-stage hopes alive? Two victories this week.
One step at a time, of course, but King is hopeful of clearing the first hurdle, at least.
“If we can survive the heat, we’ll be very competitive I hope,” the manager said in an in-house video from the team’s base in Radenci yesterday, with temperatures of up to 35 degrees being forecast for kick-off.
“They have strengths, they have some good individual players, but they also have weaknesses. Hopefully we can stretch them, and hopefully we can go and win the game.”
O’Reilly is one of Shels’ own top stars, the Tolka Park outfit raided by cross-channel sides this summer: Jess Ziu, Saoirse Noonan and Chloe Mustaki have moved to West Ham, Durham and Bristol City respectively, with Jamie Finn, Emily Whelan, Ciara Grant and Izzy Atkinson among other significant recent departures.
O’Reilly has taken over from Ziu, showing glimpses of her brilliance through a three-match baptism of fire, with fellow American Emma Starr another mid-season signing who has bolstered the squad. Pearl Slattery, Noelle Murray and Rachel Graham are the experienced Shels stalwarts, with talented youngsters such as Jessie Stapleton and Abbie Larkin continuously impressing.
There are others; Jemma Quinn among them. The in-form striker shared her excitement from Dublin Airport on Tuesday morning, where the squad met Hollywood actor Michael Fassbender.
“I feel good, a little bit excited, a little bit nervous, I don’t really know what to expect because this is my first time going over here. The experience so far has been very exciting and I’m very much looking forward to it. The dream would be to score over here, we’ll see what happens. I’m just going to give it everything.”
That, the WNL champions and leaders most certainly will as they look to represent their country on the biggest stage.
In Sport: Shelbourne manager Noel King says securing Women's Champions League football would be an amazing achievement for the club@BernardOToole has the details ⤵️#VMNews | @VMSportIE | @shelsfc pic.twitter.com/IlWoEHAgKj
— Virgin Media News (@VirginMediaNews) August 16, 2022
Also speaking from the airport pre-departure, King told Virgin Media:
“They’ve been looking forward to this for months. As soon as they qualified by winning the league last year, people had focused a little bit on it and it’s always been in the back of the mind. Now, suddenly it’s here.
“The mood is great amongst the group. We had a good win at the weekend, coming back into a bit of form, we had a slight slip but the girls are fighting it back. They’re dying to get onto the pitch and see how we can acquit ourselves.”
“It [advancement] would mean huge financial income which is one, but more importantly, it would be a great notch on the girls’ belts for their career, to be able to say that you came out of a group like that and went into the group stages,” he added.
“If we manage to pass the next round, you’d be playing football up until Christmas, and that would be an extra bonus for everybody.”
And what about feeling the heat, literally and metaphorically?
“The pressure is always on, it doesn’t matter, it’s Ireland! We have to be successful, and we’ll do our utmost to be that.”
That’s all that can be asked of them, as the Champions League dream is realised.
