Kyle McClean is hoping Kieran Offord can help Linfield put their previous play-off woes behind them
Kyle McClean has likened Kieran Offord to another Linfield striker who showed his quality on the European stage.
Back in 2019 Lavery scored a brace including a stunning solo goal to earn Linfield a first leg Europa League play-off win against Qarabag at Windsor Park.
The Azerbaijan side broke the Blues hearts as they won the return fixture 2-1 to deny David Healy’s men a place in the group phase on away goals.
McClean sees plenty of similarities between Lavery and current Linfield frontman Kieran Offord, and the midfielder is hoping the Scottish striker can follow up his stunning strike against Vikingur by firing them to victory over Shelbourne.
“Kieran’s goal was brilliant. He has some power in both feet whenever he cracks the ball,” said McClean when asked about Offord’s venomous strike which brought them back to level terms against the Faroese.
“He gives you something different. He’s a wee bit unorthodox, he tries things. He actually reminds me a wee bit of Shane Lavery when he was here. He’s a similar type of player. He’s very instinctive and he’s started the season brilliantly and long may it continue.”
McClean missed the Qarabag games as he made a permanent switch to Windsor in January 2020 after an initial four-month loan period the season before.
But the 26-year-old did play a key role in the infamous play-off defeat to RFS three years later and still bears the scars.
“I got the goal against RFS that night then it all went pear-shaped after that,” said McClean.
“I actually think I’ve only watched it back once, but any time someone mentions it, it just gives you shivers.
“That situation when we broke away you can’t help but think now ‘just take the ball to the corner, hit it on the Lisburn Road or something’.
“It wasn’t to be, unfortunately, but we have another chance next week. Still a good chance to progress and do what Larne did last year. We’re chomping at the bit.”
Injury ruled McClean out of the Champions League meeting with Shelbourne but he insists he saw enough over the two legs to believe they can come out on the right side of the result this time.
“We’ve a few more games under our belt and a few more bodies back since the first meeting with Shelbourne, albeit I thought we performed very well down there.
“It’s a really hard place to go, as we’re aware, for next week. Up here, I think until the red card, if we had kept it at 11v11, you just never know.
“So we’ll try and learn from our experiences down there before. Personally, I’m excited to have a chance to play in that tie. It was always going to be too soon for me in July.
“So I’m just delighted to have the opportunity next week to play in that tie.
“The game will be well built up. We’ve played them before, so there’s that already. There’s the north-south thing, which obviously people talk about.
“But at the end of the day, it’s a play-off for European football. So we’ve got to strip everything back, that’s what it is. So it’s a massive game for both clubs.
“We’ve obviously never been in the group stages, I don’t think my knowledge Shels have either. So for both clubs, it’s a huge opportunity. We’ll dust ourselves down from tonight and look forward to the challenge next week.
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