Doherty frustrated to come away with nothing

While the spectators inside Tolka Park on Sunday afternoon will have left – for better or worse depending on which side they support – thoroughly entertained following an incredible seven goal thriller, for Shelbourne boss Kevin Doherty there was only one thing on his mind.

"Bobby O'Reilly hitting the post, the inside of the post, that could have been 4-4..."

His Shelbourne side had just ended up on the wrong side of a 4-3 defeat to runaway First Division leaders Limerick in a game which ended with ten minutes of madness.

For Doherty, his annoyance at the manner in which his side conceded the goals and his inability to comprehend some of the refereeing decisions on the day are merely seeds for a deeper frustration sown over a period of weeks, not 90 crazy minutes: hard work and good performances reaping little or no reward.

"Limerick would nearly have been like a bonus point for us had we have got something, that's why I'm just really frustrated at the moment, but we can't make the mistakes that we made," Doherty told Extratime.ie after the game.

"Never mind the penalties, the mistakes that we actually made to give them the goals in the first place. Our goals were well worked and hard work but we gave them the goals which is really, really annoying me.

"It's the same, we played Shamrock Rovers, we played Bohs, we played Dundalk, we played Limerick, and it's all that, 'You done well, you done well against the good sides' and what are Premier Division sides – even Limerick you can include in that," Doherty continued.

"We were beaten last week [by Dundalk in the FAI Cup] and we were beaten again tonight and it's frustrating. I know we're doing well, I know we're doing the right stuff but, again, I'm frustrated with the manner of the goals, I'm frustrated with the decisions, but we have to bounce back, we have a game on Friday against UCD."

The Reds boss came into this match really believing that his team would be the first to take points from Limerick this season, but Shels found themselves a goal behind within 90 seconds when league top scorer John O'Flynn found himself unmarked in the box for a simple tap in.

"We give the ball away on the half-way line – deeper than the half-way line – and then they break, and they're good," said Doherty. "They're a good side and I told the players – we worked on that during the week, that you can't afford to give them chances because they score when they get chances."

Despite this, Shels rallied and equalised when O'Reilly charged down Blues 'keeper Tommy Holland's clearance. It remained 1-1 until half-time but the hosts hadn't learned and were suddenly 3-1 down within three minutes of the restart thanks to Chris Mulhall and an O'Flynn penalty.

"I'm so annoyed because we spoke about it obviously at half-time," said Doherty in relation to conceding so early. "We could hear them, Martin [Russell] was having a right pop at them at half-time because he could see that we really put it up to them. They haven't had much of that this year."

While Doherty felt there could have been a foul on Conor Keeley in the build up to Mulhall's goal, he was in absolutely no doubt that Limerick's second penalty – the rebound of which was converted by the taker, Lee-J Lynch, to make it 4-2 barely moments after Reds substitute Dylan Grimes had netted Shels' second – should never have been given.

"For the last one, the penalty, I just don't understand. Like, he was miles...the incident occurred outside the box. I don't think it was a penalty, I think it's a big decision to give a penalty to them," said Doherty.

"They don't need any help, they're a good side and then I felt that...we had a right go at them and then we get the goals and the lads [showed] great character to come back and keep going because I felt we were up against it with everything that just seemed to be going against us. I felt that we were worthy of at least a point out of the game."

A point looked like it was on the cards when Shels capitalised on an indirect free-kick awarded just inside the Limerick penalty area – Holland was penalised for holding onto the ball too long. Jamie Doyle was teed up and he smashed it into the bottom corner to make it 4-3.

Moments later, O'Reilly hit the post with that header. The ball bounced away, and with it went Shels' last chance of a point.