Linfield need ‘ice in veins’ against Shels – Healy

In his team’s Champions League qualifying match against Shelbourne, Linfield boss David Healy has stated that it would be “wrong” to play on any derby element.

The former Northern Ireland international will take on Shelbourne on Wednesday night in Dublin before making his Irish Premiership winning debut in Belfast a week later.

The BBC Sport website and app will host live streaming of the match in both halves.

Healy remarked, “It’s certainly not talked about north versus south, and that would be wrong of me to do that.”

You must experiment with a small amount of passion and fire, but you must also master that emotion.

Anything reckless or silly, like in any European game, will be punished, so keep an eye on it and ensure we stay focused for 90 minutes.

Healy anticipates Shelbourne fans to create a stirring atmosphere in support of their side because Linfield will receive less than 300 of the roughly 3,500 tickets for the game at Tolka Park.

He declared, “Shelbourne have a really good crowd backing them, and it’s going to be electric.”

One thing you don’t want to be doing is chasing the game, or going back and facing an assault due to the way the atmosphere is going to be.

Linfield returns to the Champions League after missing two years and winning the Irish Premiership by 22 points last year.

After some near-misses in recent years, Larne, who won the Gibson Cup in 2022-23 and 2023-24, moved to the League Cup’s Conference League division.

Before falling to RFS in the Conference League on penalties three years later, they were only defeated by FK Qarabag in the Europa League on away goals in 2019.

Healy responded, “I believe that’s the club’s end goal, of course.”

It would be very profitable financially for the club. We are self-sufficient, and all of our inputs are made up of what we bring in.