2023 Season Preview: Shelbourne

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Manager: Damien Duff

Stadium: Tolka Park

Players In: Conor Kearns (Galway United), Tyreke Wilson (Bohemians), Kyle Robinson (St Patrick's Athletic), Andrew Quinn (Drogheda United), Evan Caffrey (UCD), Matty Smith (Derry City), Paddy Barrett (St Patrick's Athletic), Kian Leavy (Reading - loan).

Players Out: Brendan Clarke (Galway United), Daniel Carr (Sevenoaks Town), Daniel Hawkins, Aaron O'Driscoll, Josh Giurgi (Longford Town), Kyle O'Connor (Longford Town), Jamal Ibrahim (Longford Town), Francis Campbell (Longford Town), Stephan Negru (Oxford United),Aodh Dervin (Longford Town - loan)

extratime.com Key Player: Luke Byrne 

After leading his side to the FAI Cup final in November, Byrne will be hoping to build on a positive season overall last year. 

This will be his fifth season at Tolka Park and arguably his most important in the leadership role. 

Following the departure of veteran keeper, Brendan Clarke, Byrne may be called upon a bit more in motivating his side to stay up again this season.

At the other end, Sean Boyd had an excellent return of 15 goals including a brace in the FAI cup quarter-final and will need to find that form again. 

extratime.com One to Watch: Matty Smith 



A fan favourite, Smith spent the second half of last year on loan at Tolka Park from Derry City and his performances have earned him a permanent move.

One of Shels standout players, the 25-year-old injected creativity into Damien Duff’s side and clearly impressed his manager enough to bring him in full-time.

The Scottish midfielder returned to haunt one of his old sides, St.Pats, with a goal in a 4-4 thriller in October but unfortunately missed out on playing in the cup final against his parent club, Derry City.

He will be hoping to make up for that disappointment and hit the ground running in his first full season with Shelbourne.

Another one hoping to have a successful loan spell is the Irish underage level capped, Kian Leavy. The 20-year-old has joined The Reds on loan from Reading where he has played since 2016. 

With his contract due to be up with the Championship club in June, Leavy and Shels may be a perfect match.



The Ardee native has already made a good impression grabbing a goal in his first game against Galway in pre-season.

What to expect this season:

After getting to the cup final in November and staying up comfortably in the end, Shelbourne and Damien Duff will be hoping to repeat some of the results from last season and make amends for others.

A less than convincing second half of last year in the league was somewhat glossed over by an impressive cup run but staying up again will be the highest priority.

This will be Duff’s second season in charge at Tolka and he has become well used to how things operate.

The former Ireland international has a young squad but one that is certainly willing to battle it out for league survival.

One player with a lot of experience who has joined this year is seasoned pro, Paddy Barrett. The former Pats man will be looking to add his defensive stability to the squad.

An important factor in the off season has been comings and goings for Shelbourne but the re-signing of some of last year’s key performers has been very welcomed.

Midfield pairing Shane Farrell and Jack Moylan were pivotal to how Shels played last season and they are on board again for what looks to be an exciting 2023.

First game: Shels host Drogheda at Tolka Park this Friday (7.45pm kick off).

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