O'Brien hails clinical Rijeka but rues missed chances

Rijeka scoring quality goals and Shelbourne not making the most of the chances that did come their way was how Joey O'Brien summed up his side's exit from the Europa League.

On what was a raucous occasion at Tolka Park, the hosts, leading 2-1 from first leg, were eventually outdone late on as Ante Orec's goal on 90 minutes made it 3-1 for the visitors on the night and with it a passage through to the play-off round.

For Shels, the play-off in the Conference League awaits against either Linfield, where they would renew acquaintances after meeting earlier in the Champions League, or Vikingur, with the Faroe Islanders 2-1 to the good ahead of their second leg on Thursday evening.

Despite trailing from the opening leg, Rijeka were boosted by the return of their skilful No 10 Toni Fruk and so with it the expectancy that the tie was far from over. Fruk's brilliant strike gave the Croatian champions the lead on the night and an equally sublime finish from Tiago Dantas doubled the advantage. Mipo Odubeko drew Shels level (on aggregate) from the spot but Orec's turn and shot in the hosts' box settled things.

Speaking to RTÉ Sport's Tony O'Donoghue, the Shels boss felt his troops managed the first half well but were powerless to prevent that stunning opener from Fruk.

"We knew we were going to give up possession, they have some top, top players but I thought after the first 15 to 20 minutes we were fine," were O'Brien's early thoughts on the game.

"We restricted them to pot shots from far out and then there was a moment of magic from a very good player. That put us on the back foot but as I said to the boys it's about managing halves of football and sometimes you get that. It's about getting to half-time and we got to half-time 1-0 down."

And so some time to regroup and refocus.

"We then tweaked it and I thought in the second half we were good," he added.

"I thought we were the better side. They scored from another moment of magic and then Mipo gets us back into it from the penalty. And then small margins; we had a chance to get a goal (from a Milan Mbeng header) at the back stick. Then they went up the other end, got a bit of luck and got the goal. It's a hard one to take but it is what it is.

"You can't do anything about those goals, they were quality. A goal from 35 or 40 yards, you would probably tell a player at any level to shoot. To be fair to our lads they stuck at it, got the penalty. I don't think we went gung-ho for it after that. It was a hopeful ball into the box [for the winning goal] that bounced up and it was a nice finish. They got that little bit of luck to get that winner."

A dejected Mipo Odubeko after the game

O'Brien's overall assessment by and large reflected what happened over the course of 90-plus minutes, in that he praised the extra bit of quality from the visitors, while rueing some of the chances his side spurned when in on goal.

"People did not see how a good a team Rijeka were. The player that came back in from suspension - Fruk - and with Petrovic returning - they are quality players. We had a great atmosphere here and fans wanted us to tear after them but at this level, up against players who can pass it about, as soon as you give them space they will make you pay. That was never going to be the gameplan.

"As I said in the first half we knew they were going to start strong and have a lot of possession but apart from a moment of magic for the first goal we restricted them to pot shots.

"We had a threat early on, Ali (Coote) had a chance. It is what it is, maybe he could have gone down, but it was a chance. We had chances throughout the game; Mipo had a chance, Kerr (McInroy) had a chance. We didn't take them and they took theirs."

And now it's back to Windsor Park on Thursday to assess the likely opposition in the upcoming play-off.

"I will definitely go to Windsor, that's part of the game, you have to do your homework, so I'll have a look," O'Brien outlined.

"It's a huge opportunity. The lads are hurting in the dressing room but you have to turn that hurt into going after what we want and that is the group stages."

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