Shels and St Pat’s complete fiery derby level after eight-goal thriller

Shelbourne 4

St. Patrick’s Athletic 4

Darryl Geraghty reports from Tolka Park

THERE IS NO love lost in a fiery Dublin Derby that saw Shelbourne and St. Patrick’s Athletic share the spoils in one of the most dramatic games of the season, and in recent memory.

All Dublin derbies tend to have a bit of a needle, but there was added tension in this revamped game. After their impressive 1-0 win in Sofia against CSKA, Tim Clancy’s men found themselves stranded and unable to complete their fixture with Shelbourne the following Sunday, leading to mass confusion and frustration in the Shels camp. who felt they should have been given the three pints with the suggestion that there may have been more to the story than meets the eye.

On the pitch, however, the games between the pair have produced goals this season, with the away side having emerged victorious in the previous two encounters. Athletic won 3-0 on the opening day while the Reds got revenge with a 2-1 victory at Inchicore in May and it was no different from a game that could have been absolutely anything.

The tension between the two was evident both on and off the pitch as big challenges came in from both sides, but it was the hosts who looked better in possession and it didn’t take them long to force their advantage.

Thirteen minutes to Shane Griffin arrowed a long diagonal from left to right towards Shane Farrell who controlled the ball inside on his chest, past Harry Brockbank who completely missed his kick, and onto top scorer Sean Boyd who coolly came home from the edge of the area for his eighth league goal of the season.

Pat without three key players in Anto Breslin, skipper Chris Forrester and Tom Grivosti struggled to contain Shels and just two minutes later goalkeeper Danny Rogers was forced into an exceptional save from Farrell’s whipped free kick that seemed intended for the first post.

To their credit, the visitors stemmed the tide and found themselves level thanks to flying winger Barry Cotter. The on-loan Shamrock Rovers man latched onto a long ball over the top of ‘Mr. always present” this season Joe Redmond.

Cotter in cross form but cut inside on his left foot and dribbled inside unchallenged and unleashed a low strike with his weaker foot that hinted at everyone and flew into the lower corner.
In a breathless first half, the Reds regained their lead just before the half-hour mark when ex-Saint and Inchicore’s top scorer last season Matty Smith kicked in a unstoppable lightning from 25 yards to haunt his old team.

There was even more drama to come when Mark Doyle thought he had equalised, nodding home a Jamie Lennon cross from the right, only for referee Neil Doyle to give a free kick as he battled with Luke Byrne.

As the match entered the dying embers of a crazy first half, the Saints finally got their second equaliser. Jay McLelland’s inswinging corner was met by Eoin Doyle at the near post, but expertly saved by Brendan Clarke who did well to hit the bar, and when the ball came out it appeared to be helped towards goal by Brockbank and finally headed for the goal. roof of his own net by Sean Boyd.

There was no respite in the second half as both sides raced away and for the third time that evening in blustery Tolka Park it was the home side who found their noses in front.

Gavin Molloy and JJ Lunney from Shelbourne with Billy King from St Pats.

Source: Evan Treacy/INPHO

JR Wilson did extremely well down the Shels right, sending the ball around McClelland and delivering a low cross initially controlled by Brockbank, but a slightly heavy touch allowed the ever-alert Boyd to slip past the center half and the ‘surprised Englishman brought down the big number nine.

Boyd kept his cool from the spot as he came down the middle to make it 3-2.

Bordering on frankly ridiculous, the NBA-style clash continued to deliver when minutes later Tim Clancy’s men had yet another goal ruled out, this time for offside. Eoin Doyle appeared to have beaten the offside trap and made no mistake with the finish to see the assistants’ flag rising to his disbelief.

All this with less than an hour of play.

Shels grabbed his fourth just after the hour mark, having had his own goal disallowed when Matty Smith was ruled for blocking Redmond’s clearance with his arm. Midfielder JJ Lunney took advantage of the visitors’ even poorer defence, curling in a left-footed effort from the edge of the area after Pat’s defense again failed to cope with another cross whipped by Wilson.

The visitors were given a lifeline when Farrell took the wrong side of Sam Curtis on a neat double, and the Finglas man brought the left wing back. This time, Eoin Doyle scored his goal making it 4-3 from twelve yards.

With a quarter of an hour remaining, tensions spilled from the pitch to the sidelines when Saints boss Clancy and Shels coach Alan Quinn had to be separated following colorful language between the of them. The two received their marching orders as the verbals continued in the stands.

Incredibly, or what would normally be incredible but only continues the narrative of this outrageous clash, The Athletic came back level with 10 minutes to go. Eoin Doyle, after being coached by Griffin, dusted himself off to make it 4-4 just past the sold-out section, sending his fans going wild.

Both teams still had incredible chances to score the three points before the end. First, Barry Cotter hit a beautiful free-kick that blasted past Clarke’s post, which beat the former Saints goalscorer, before Matty Smith looped in a fine right-footed effort inches from the post, into which certain parts of the ground were thought to have entered. .

Damien Duff’s Shels looked to break away with another attack, but just at the final whistle, Jamie Lennon received his marching orders for a second yellow, deliberately halting the attack at the halfway line.

And breath.

FC Shelbourne: Brendan Clarke, John Ross Wilson, Shane Griffin, Luke Byrne, Stephan Negru, Kameron Ledwidge, Gavin Molloy, JJ Lunney (Mark Coyle, 89′), Shane Farrell, Matty Smith, Sean Boyd (Dan Carr, 90+3′)
Subs not used: Scott Van Der Sluis, Aaron O’Driscoll, Lewis Temple, Aodh Dervin. Dan Carr, Josh Giurgi, Gbemi Arubi

St. Patrick’s Athletic: Danny Rogers, Barry Cotter, Joe Redmond, Jamie Lennon, Eoin Doyle, Jason McClelland (Serge Atakayi, 54′), Harry Brockbank, Mark Doyle, Billy King, Adam O’Reilly (Tunde Owolabi, 70′), Sam Curtis
Subs not used: David Odumosu, Ronan Coughlan, Ben McCormack, Ben Curtis, Thijs Timmermans, Paddy Barrett

Referee: Neil Doyle