Champions League qualifier: A few of his rivals may wish they had his problems and even he seems a little embarrassed as he talks about the string of injuries that have affected his side's performances in recent weeks, but Pat Fenlon's options appeared to be multiplying yesterday as a number of important Shelbourne players did enough in training to suggest they can play some part for the Dublin club at the Oval tomorrow night.

Alan Moore, Jim Crawford, Jamie Harris, Dave Rogers and Colin Hawkins have all been missing for varying amounts of time of late and with three of the five competing for the club's two regular slots in central defence it's not surprising the club's main problems of late have been in precisely that area.

"I don't want to sound like I'm making excuses," said Fenlon yesterday, "but when we've had injuries they've all tended to be in the same area of the field. Looking at the other teams that are doing well in the league at the moment, they all seem to be quite settled and we had that last year.

"This season it's been different but hopefully things are settling down for us now, starting with this game."

Fenlon, who would be particularly pleased to have Hawkins and Rogers back alongside each other in the heart of the back four, watched Glentoran overrun Magherafelt in a pre-season friendly at the weekend but admitted there was only so much to be learned from seeing the Irish League champions in action against a side of badly out-of-season amateurs.

The real lessons for the Dublin club came two years ago against Hibernians of Malta when Shelbourne lost their first qualifying round tie they should have won rather easily and in May when Linfield, runners up to Glentoran in the league, came to Tolka Park and muscled their way to victory in the Setanta Cup final.

"I think on the face of it you'd expect this game to be more physical than your average European tie too," says Stuart Byrne whose role as cover in midfield for the central defence proved crucial as Shelbourne made it to the third qualifying round of the Champions League qualifiers last summer.

"The referee will be European, though, and he'll be looking at it as just another European tie so a lot will probably depend on everybody coming to terms early on with what he's prepared to put up with and how he reacts to the way the teams set about the game."

Byrne, who played Irish League football with Crusaders, knows a good deal about Glentoran and accepts that on paper the Dubliners look to be favourites.

"The problem is that in high profile games like this things tend to cancel each other out. I mean, look at last year when we were going close to a team that should have been easily better than us.

"Well, the reverse will probably be true here. It's 50-50 going into the game and what it's likely to come down to is who plays better on the night. . . it's as simple as that."

The 28-year-old's place in the starting line-up for tomorrow's game is assured although little else is certain about who will play in midfield.

Last season Fenlon opted to play with Byrne behind a four-man midfield and a long striker up front but with Glen Crowe's arrival he could opt to play a straight 4-4-2 this time around with a good deal depending on whether he is free to play David Crawley at left back and, therefore, return Ollie Cahill to the left wing.

"Whoever plays it's going to be tough," says Byrne.

"We've found that all season as teams we've played have been absolutely determined to beat us and Glentoran certainly isn't going to be any different.

"I suppose we've contributed to our problems in the league a little bit, too. Maybe the attitude wasn't quite at the same level as it had been in previous years but a big part of it has been the fact that other teams really want to beat Shelbourne now and that takes a bit of getting used to.

"We're very determined to win this ourselves, though," he adds. "It's a great opportunity for an Irish team to get to the next round but really we set a new standard for ourselves last year and if anything we're looking to go one better this time. There's no point in resting on our laurels. If Irish teams are going to make progress then we really have to win games like Wednesday's."