The 2005-06 season was Shelbourne’s last foray into Champions League or UEFA Cup qualifying rounds, and was a year after their legendary run to the third round of Champions League qualifying.
Despite winning the league in 2006, they would also be relegated for financial reasons, and the years of success under Pat Fenlon would come to an abrupt halt.
Pat Fenlon, Stuey Byrne, and Alan Cawley sat down with Con Murphy to talk all things Shelbourne as part of our UEFA Champions League Memories series. (Make sure to check out our previous episodes with Neil Lennon and Chris Sutton, and David O’Leary.)
After defeating Glentoran in the first round of Champions League qualifying they faced Romanian side Steaua Bucharest in Round 2.
The first leg saw Shelbourne draw 0-0 in Tolka Park, but the second leg in Bucharest was a disappointment both in terms of the result and the racist abuse served to Joseph Ndo and Curtis Fleming.
3 August 2005; Joseph Ndo, Shelbourne. UEFA Champions League, Second Qualifying Round, Second Leg, FC Steuea Bucharest v Shelbourne FC, Ghencea Stadium, Bucharest, Romania. Picture credit; Brian Lawless / SPORTSFILE
“The night we played Steau with Shels wasn’t good I have to be honest,” says Pat Fenlon.
“It wasn’t nice, and I remember being on the bench, and everything bouncing off the bench whatever they were throwing. It was a hostile night, but they’d a good side as well. They had some really good players.”
Stuey Byrne went into more detail about the night and the shocking abuse from Steaua’s fans, which earned the club a £16,000 fine.
“The away leg frustrated me a little bit because again I felt that we were coming (good). I thought we brushed Glentoran away to the side quite easily in Tolka.
“Even the game against Steau at home I thought we could have nicked it. Ollie Cahill had a header late on in the game, and we could have nicked it. But again you’re going away thinking could we repeat what we did.
“Rogey (Dave Rogers) gets involved with Dika (in the second leg) and there’s a bit of needle. I don’t know what happened that day, the two of them were at it right from the start of the game, right from the start.
“And Dika was probably Romania’s top centre forward, and they were at it, at it, at it, and the two of them came together and the referee sent both of them off.
“We couldn’t replace Rogey, I had to go back centre half, and we had to shift around midfield, and it just affected us, but the stuff that happened in the second half with the crowd was absolutely awful.
“Curtis had been playing as well and he was getting a lot of stick but he was over the far side, the nasty crowd seemed to be on the dugout side. Then when Joseph came on it went to a different level all together.
"Scumbags all together.”
Steau Bucharest would win the match (and the tie) 4-1. Jason Byrne scored Shelbourne's only goal.
See Also: When Wes Hoolahan Came Of Age Against Deportivo La Coruna
