Shelbourne's first foray into Europe since 2006 ended with a laborious victory over St Joseph's of Gibraltar in their UEFA Conference League first qualifying round first leg at Tolka Park.
A goal and assist from the classy Will Jarvis helped Shels to their first European win since beating Odense in the second leg of an Intertoto Cup tie, but despite dominating possession they created very few clear cut chances and weren’t without a scare from their visitors.
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Shels may have had to wait 18 years for their next European odyssey, with more dark days than good during that time, but they only had to wait 27 seconds longer to celebrate a goal.
Jarvis skipped around three defenders and laid off Mark Coyle outside the box and the club captain launched a daisy cutter into the bottom left corner to send Tolka into delirium.
After the early fireworks, the game turned into a textbook cagey European affair with Joseph’s content to sit back and frustrate the Reds.
Shels nearly let their concentration slip on the half hour when Paddy Barrett made a hash of intercepting a through ball and Liam Walker, Gibraltar's record caps and goalscorer, drilled a strike past Conor Kearns' post.
That fright did little to scare Shels back into life and Tolka Park was soon hit with a stomach upset as Francisco Paul Curado’s belly bizarrely levelled proceedings five minutes before the break.
Walker’s floated corner came through a barrage of bodies before bouncing off Curado and past Kearns.
Sean Boyd was introduced from the bench at the interval and he combined with John Martin to win the hosts a penalty in the 58th minute.
Martin headed to Boyd who laid off his strike partner only for Martin to be bundled to the ground by a combination of Manuel Sanchez Lopez and Gabriel Cardozo Tomas.
Jarvis, who looked a cut above the rest, sent Alejandro Navas Ruiz the wrong way and clipped the ball into the top corner.
Duff turned to the bench and summoned Ali Coote who added an injection of pace, firing a deflected shot at Navas Ruiz.
The game fell flat as it did in the first half and the hosts breathed a sigh of relief when Juan Pena headed over the bar from twelve yards.
Coote was at the heart of everything good about Shelbourne since his introduction and instead of seeing the net bulge his goal bound effort was blocked.
As long as Shels led by the minimum, St Joseph's always had hope. A sigh of relief echoed around the ground as Alvaro Rey’s Cristiano Ronaldo style free-kick dipped just wide of the post, before more heroic defending from the visitors denied Sean Gannon.
Four minutes of stoppage time were added but Duff’s charges saw the game out with a minimum of fuss to extend their unbeaten home run in European competition to nine games despite their lengthy absence from the bright lights.
The tie remains in the balance and Shelbourne’s job is only half done heading to Victoria Stadium for the return leg.
Shelbourne: Conor Kearns; Patrick Barrett, Sean Gannon, Kameron Ledwidge, Tyreke Wilson; Liam Burt (Alistair Coote 58), Mark Coyle (Evan Caffrey 74), Jonathan Lunney; William Jarvis (Sam Bone 89), John Martin (Harry Wood 58), Matthew Smith (Sean Boyd 46).
St Joseph's: Alejandro Navas Ruiz; Facundo Rafael Alvarez (Christian Aznar 62), Gabriel Cardozo Tomas, Francisco Paul Curado (Alain Pons 68), Ethan Jolley (Marco Rosa 85), Alvaro Rey (David Bautista 85); Juanma, Jayce Macarenhas-Olivero, Manuel Sanchez Lopez, Liam Walker; Pablo Rodriguez Moreno (Juan Peña 62).
Referee: Luis Teixeira (Andorra)
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