‘I hate bullies, I just see Palestinians being bullied, and I stand up to bullies’ – Shelbourne coach Joey O’Brien

The words that tend to come from the mouth of football coaches who are reluctant to speak about anything beyond the field of play and the 90 minutes of football.

It’s notable that when Joey O’Brien, filling in for media duties to give manager Damien Duff a break from the microphones after Friday’s 2-0 win for his Shelbourne side over Galway United, a win which retains their two-point lead at the top of table, is not only wearing club-issued kit but is also wearing a tshirt saying Saoirse don Phalaistín.

He’s happy to talk about the game, not a classic but a win with a clean sheet which adds weight to the Reds’ credentials as title contenders, as Shels took control with first half goals from John Martin and Evan Caffrey.

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“It was a tough game, obviously a hard game against Galway. They beat us down there, so I think in a way that probably it was a good game for us to come back into after the break was to play Galway because we were awful down there,” he said.

“We touched on that this week, they knew how bad they were and probably wanted a reaction themselves so it probably helped us that we had that game with a little extra edge,” he said.

“We trained hard all week, the manager built it in lovely with the intensity at the start of the week and then going more tactical towards the back end of it and it was all about getting the win tonight and we done that.”

But he’s also donning a Palestine t-shirt for a reason and is also open to speaking his mind.

“To be honest, it’s a small thing…who the f*** is Joey O’Brien at the end of the day? But if it gets people to talk about it or keep it in the public conscience a little bit and the suffering that is going on over there, maybe I have a little small platform that can do that,” says the former international.

“Maybe if someone sees it or someone hears it, maybe it will resonate a little bit.

“The whole situation over there isn’t going to go away as soon as the war stops, it’s still going to be there. The people are still suffering, they’re going to continue to suffer until it is sorted out.

“At the end of the day, I’m out here on a Friday night watching a game of ball and screaming on the sidelines like a mad man but the reality of it is that is going on and the suffering in that part of the world, the people over there, for me I find it heartbreakiing.

“For me an awful lot of it comes down to the simple things. I know it’s a complicated situation.

“For me in life, I hate bullies and I just see them being bullied as people, and I stand up to bullies, that’s what my stance is.”

O’Brien says his own family status – a dad of twins – is one reason why he’s vocal on Palestine.

“It hasn’t been a new thing for me. I’ve been following it and watching it for years and years and years. But what has happened in the last few months has built it up to a broader base. It’s heartbreaking,” he said.

“Irish Sport for Palestine are trying to do some good stuff and through that I try to give it a little support. Here it touches you,” he said.

“I remember at the start of it reading a story of a lady that was over there. She had some unsuccessful pregnancies and in the end she had twins and she brought the twins home and she went to bed on the first night and she woke up and the two of them were dead.

“That touches me, I have twins – a boy and a girl. That lady had a boy and a girl. If that doesn’t touch you, there is something up with you,” he said, referring to an incident in March when Rania Abu Anza lost her five-month-old twins in an Israeli air strike in March on her home in Rafa, killing her children, her husband and 11 other relatives and leaving another nine missing.