Shelbourne vs Linfield Predictions

• Shelbourne beat Linfield 1-0 in a home Champions League qualifier last month
• That was Linfield’s first game but the Northern Irish club are now several games into their campaign
• Linfield had a free weekend while Shelbourne were beaten 2-0 at St Patrick’s Athletic

Cross-border rematch in Conference League

Less than a month since League of Ireland champions Shelbourne overcame Northern Irish title winners Linfield in Champions League qualifying, the two clubs meet again in the final round of qualifying for the Conference League.

In a quirk of the competition, the Blues get another crack at the Reds – and a chance of the estimated £3million earnings from a place in the League phase – after knocking out Zalgiris and Vikingur.

David Healy will hope his side have learned from the two games with their cross-border rivals. Linfield were on the back foot for most of the first leg at Tolka Park, going down 1-0, before failing to make the most of their chance in the second leg when defender Ben Hall was sent off.

Linfield look better equipped to match Reds 

Although both contests were relatively low-scoring affairs at 1-0 and 1-1, neither clash was cagey in any way with plenty of chances being created. It is also worth noting that those matches came a month before Linfield’s domestic campaign kicked off while Shelbourne were midway through their own domestic season.

The Northern Irish side have more minutes in the legs now and their competitive edge should be sharper.  Shelbourne produced their worst display under Joey O’Brien, who took over earlier this summer, at the weekend when they crashed out of the FAI Cup to St Patrick’s Athletic. First-choice goalkeeper Conor Kearns suffered a hamstring injury on his return, so on-loan stand-in Wessel Speel will take the gloves.

The Reds play forward early and often, so the Linfield defence will have to remain solid if they are to hang in the tie. However, they showed enough tenacity in the first two games to suggest they can keep it tight, so an under 2.5 goals play looks the best way in.