Collie O’Neill reflects on new chapter in the Ringsend rivalry

Macdara Ferris reports from Tolka Park

The historic rivalry between Shelbourne and Shamrock Rovers dates back to both club’s formation in Ringsend at the end of the 19^th century.

When Rovers last played in the Women's League of Ireland in the 2013/14 season, there was no Shelbourne side in the league (they merged with Raheny in 2015) and so this year there was always going to be a new chapter to the Ringsend rivalry.

However with the Hoops signing six of Shelbourne’s double winning squad from last season including Ringsend teenager Abbie Larkin, it has added another element to the story.

The two sides met in Saturday’s Women’s Premier Division game at Tolka Park in a game which finished 1-1 in front of 676 spectators including the Ireland manager Vera Pauw.

The Hoops went into the lead through their skipper Áine O’Gorman from an assist off player-of-the-match Jamie Thompson who was making her starting debut for the Hoops.

Thompson scored a second half hat-trick off the bench last week in the 6-0 home win over Treaty United and is a player who has been with Rovers since the club entered an under-17 team in the women’s national underage setup in 2020.

The equaliser for Shels came from the highly talented Ireland senior international Jessie Stapleton who was previously at Rovers and was a teammate of Thompson in the Hoops under-17 team. Stapleton left Tallaght for Tolka Park in 2021 signing for Shelbourne’s senior side, playing 23 times that year as the Reds won the league. Last season she scored eight goals in 25 league appearances as Shels won the double.

Speaking to extratime.com after Saturday’s game, Hoops Head Coach Collie O’Neill reflected on the match and talked first about how opponents will be wary of his side’s attacking threat.

“Jamie is a really really good player,” said O’Neill about the 18-year-old attacker. “We are blessed to have the players that we have - particularly across the front line with Jamie, Abbie Larkin, and Áine (O’Gorman) on one side and Alannah McEvoy on the other.

“We have Steph (Stephanie Zambra) too but she is out injured for a few weeks. There is good quality and there will be plenty of defences terrified of them."

O’Gorman and McEvoy switched wings on a couple of occasions during the game. “I like that interchange and movement as they both offer something different when they are playing in different positions. They are clever footballers and know when to drop into different pockets and who is around them.”

“I thought we started very well. I thought we played really really well in patches. The improvement part for us is that we need to work on playing out and moving the ball quickly - we just need to do that quite consistently.

“There is a little bit of irony,” said O’Neill about the former Hoops player Stapleton getting the equaliser with a back-post header from an Alex Kavanagh corner for the Reds. “She took her goal well and it is something we need to work on and be a little bit better.”

Indeed Shels could have taken all three points as they had the ball in the back of the net in injury time at the end of the game but Noelle Murray’s close range effort was ruled out for offside – which looked to be the correct decision on reviewing the replay on TG4 (who showed the game live).

“I was very thankful for the offside flag at the end,” admitted O’Neill but he said that he was still departing Tolka Park disappointed having only drawn against last season’s double winners.

“I'm leaving here disappointed in that we can be better. We are only at 65% of where we really want to be. There are more levels for us to go through but it is nice to see where we are at this moment in time.”

LOIW Match Report: Shelbourne 1 - 1 Shamrock Rovers - https://t.co/94rjArr8tjhttps://t.co/hmPSALFP1I

— Extratime.com (@ExtratimeNews) March 18, 2023