League Report: Shelbourne 4 - 1 Athlone Town

An atrocious performance from Athlone Town saw them dismantled 4-1 by Shelbourne at Tolka Park in the SSE Airtricity League First Division on Friday night.

Goals courtesy of Dayle Rooney, Sean Byrne, Dylan Grimes, and Derek Prendergast sealed a convincing win for the Reds, who dominated the game against an abject Athlone side.

Making numerous schoolboy errors in defence, wasteful in possession, and consistently disjointed, Athlone played less like a team playing for nothing and more like a tram who had never played a game together before.

They tackled late, were regularly opened up, and trudged frustratedly about the pitch after the home side, who had an easy night's work gifted to them.

Shels were forced into a late change after an injury to Aidan Collins in the warm up. James O'Brien was parachuted into the starting XI, while Aaron Molloy was drafted in onto the bench late.

The home side endured a shaky start after Ryan Gaffey was spotted in the box unmarked after only two minutes, but quickly recovered as Adam Evans straight away went close down the other end.

The scoring was to be opened after just seven minutes, when Dean Delany went short to Alan Byrne off a kickout and his through ball flummoxed a falling Gaffey and released Rooney.

The Shels #18 pounced on the space gifted to him and ran to the box before slotting underneath Connor Gleeson at the near post.

Just four minutes later, however, Town were awarded a penalty after a soft looking foul on Elanda N'kololo by Sean Byrne.

N'kololo stepped up to strike himself but Delany, celebrating his 37^th birthday on this night, saved the weak effort low to his right. A routine stop for the Shels skipper.

Town continued to be put undwer pressure from the Reds but some very lax defending didn't help them, and simple errors, such as simply not following men, forgetting their defensive shape and diving into silly challenges, continuously cost them the ball in dangerous positions.

Bereft of defensive organisation, Athlone let Shelbourne just walk through them. Only a late clearing diving header from Stephen Walsh prevented a waltz from Rooney turning into a goal in the 24^th minute.

After another chance for Evans was snuffed out by a late challenge from Cormac Raftery, Shels did double their advantage when Sean Byrne, overlapping a Rooney run down the left this time, saw his cross curl in behind the hapless Gleeson into the far top corner.

And the pain for Gleeson did not stop there – his night got worse when, just two minutes after the restart, he was caught in possession of the ball and dispossessed by Grimes, who slammed the ball home into the roof of the empty net.

James English was introduced to the Shels ranks in the 55^th minute, replacing Sean Byrne, and added a new dimension to the Shels attack, and the focal point nearly paid dividends just three minutes after coming on, but his spinning shot was straight at Gleeson.

Town did manage one back, at least. Off a break from a Shels corner in the 60^th minute, Silva cut back a Layng cross on the edge of the box and fired a shot at Delany, who saved but the midfielder easily swept in the rebound.

An eeriely noiseless reaction around Tolka when the goal went in due to the lact of a travelling support - some fans were left asking "was that a goal?"

A goal it was, and it woke Shels up, with the previously suspect Gleeson called into action to produce a couple of very good saves from English, and to get up well to his top right to claw out a well struck free kick from Rooney.

But it was to be all in vain as, in the 68^th minute, a Rooney corner was whipped back into the Town box over the head of James O'Brien, and Prendergast, somehow unmarked six yards from the Town goal, fired in the easiest of finishes – save, maybe, for the third goal.

The result became academic from there, with the sides playing out a largely listless last 20 minute, save for James English swinging a hopeful leg and missing the ball completely at a Rooney cross with the goal gaping.

Shelbourne: Dean Delany; James Brown, Derek Prendergast, Alan Byrne, Sean Byrne (James English 55); David O'Leary, James O'Brien, Mark Hughes (Dylan Grimes 29), Dylan Kavanagh; Adam Evans, Dayle Rooney.

Subs not used: Jamie Quinn, Aaron Molloy, Niall Lanigan, Jamie Doyle, Chris Lyons.

Booked: None.

Athlone Town: Connor Gleeson; Ian Fletcher, Cormac Rafferty, Stephen Walsh, Liam McCarton; Rob Spelman (Sean McGrane 46), Claudio Silva, Conor Layng; Ryan Gaffey, Joe Carmody (Peter Walsh 69), Elanda N'kololo (Luke Kelly 46).

Subs not used: Jack Lydon, Owen Folan, Peter Arebiyi-Atoki.

Booked: None

Referee: Jason Mannix.

Attendance: 449.

Extratime.ie Player of the Match: Dayle Rooney (Shelbourne).