While their thoughts might be focused on the return leg of their Champions League qualifying tie against Hibernians of Malta next Wednesday the players of Shelbourne will first play host to Manchester United at Tolka Park today.
Included in the United squad for the club's first pre-season friendly is their captain, Roy Keane, whose reception from the sell-out crowd is likely to generate as much interest as the action on the pitch.
"Roy Keane is set to receive a rousing reception in Dublin this weekend," reported Reuters yesterday, while Soccernet predicted that Keane would "run a gauntlet of anger or even hate". Take your pick.
"Roy will handle the situation, no problem at all," Keane's team-mate Ryan Giggs forecast. "He is a proud Irishman and will enjoy going back. I'm sure he will still be performing to the highest standards again this season. Nothing will change with Roy."
Alex Ferguson has named a squad of 16 for the game, which doesn't include the four United members of England's World Cup squad - David Beckham, Paul Scholes, Nicky Butt and Wes Brown - who have been given an extra week off to recover from the tournament.
Included, however, are Fabien Barthez and Mickael Silvestre (both France), Juan Sebastian Veron (Argentina) and Diego Forlan (Uruguay), whose World Cups ended at the first round stage.
Also named in the 16 is centre-back John O'Shea, the 21-year-old from Waterford who joined United in 1998 and made his senior Irish debut last year. O'Shea has long been touted by Ferguson as a first-team player of the future and signed a new four-year contract at Old Trafford earlier this year.
United's pursuit of Rio Ferdinand, however, hardly augurs well for O'Shea's immediate prospects at the club, with Laurent Blanc and Wes Brown, so far, ahead of him in the queue of centre-backs vying for first team places.
With the postponement of Shelbourne's scheduled league fixture against Bray Wanderers on Sunday the friendly will be their final game before Wednesday's second leg of their Champions League tie against Hibernians.
If Shelbourne, who drew 2-2 in Malta on Wednesday, can come through the second leg they will play Boavista of Portugal in the next round.
MANCHESTER UNITED (Squad): Barthez, Carroll, P Neville, Blanc, O'Shea, Silvestre, Forlan, Veron, Keane, Stewart, Fortune, Giggs, Solskjaer, van Nistelrooy, Yorke, Djordjic.
