Leinster Senior Cup Report: Dundalk 0 - 4 Shelbourne

Shelbourne cruised into the  quarter finals of the Leinster Senior Cup game at a wet and cold Oriel Park thanks to goals from Moylan, Robinson, Caffrey and Arubi.

The home side got off to a tough start with the loss of Hayden Muller to a red card with five minutes on the clock- the centre half adjudged to have made a last man tackle by referee Rob Harvey and duly departed the action.

The visiting Reds took advantage of the space in the Dundalk defence within moments as Jack Moylan showed persistence to turn inside Peter Cherrie and fire the ball low beyond the dive of the Scot to open the scoring in the eighth minute. 

Damien Duff’s outfit dominated the possession stakes however, bar a close range miss from Jack Moylan after Wasiri Williams was caught in possession, it was Dundalk who had the clearest chances with Ryan O’Kane having an effort blocked and Scott van der Sluis showing a safe pair of to hold a Cameron Elliott header from a clever Dundalk set piece.

Shelbourne made Dundalk pay for not converting their chances as former St Patrick’s Athletic forward Kyle Robinson tapped in from close range after Jack Moylan’s cutback from inside the penalty area to make it two nil at the break.

Once more, in the seconnd half, the home side had chances to score with Williams seeing his nodded effort stopped by van der Sluis before Shelbourne had further opportunities themselves- Matt Smith shooting over when well placed before Peter Cherrie did well to parry a Farrell fizzer from distance.

Two became three with twenty minutes to go as Evan Caffrey bundled his way into the box and powered an effort goalwards- Cherrie got down to get a strong pair of hands to the shot but the ball looped beyond the unfortunate Scottish netminder and bobbled into the net to widen the gap between the sides.

On 81 minutes, it was substitute Gbemi Arubi who made it four as he intercepted the ball inside the Lilywhite area and fired the ball into an unguarded net to put the tin hat on proceedings and send Shels safely into the next round of the Leinster Senior Cup. For the home side it’s Shamrock Rovers in the league at Oriel Park next weekend while Shelbourne host Derry City.

Dundalk: Peter Cherrie; Archie Davies, Robbie McCourt (Sean Bannon 63), Hayden Muller, Wasiri Williams; Robbie Benson (Anthony Moyo 75), Alfie Lewis, John Martin (Dualta Honney 85), Ryan O'Kane (Conor O'Gorman 85), Keith Ward; Cameron Elliott (Eoin Kenny 74).
Subs not used: Mark Byrne, Craig Moore, Luke Mulligan, Jake Hough.
Booked: Robbie McCourt (63), Anthony Moyo (86).
Sent off: Hayden Muller (5).

Shelbourne: Scott Van der Sluis; Shane Griffin (Lewis Temple 74), Kameron Ledwidge, Andrew Quinn; Evan Caffrey (Gbemi Arubi 73), Shane Farrell (Sean Cummins 83), Brian McManus, Jack Moylan (Gavin Molloy 61), David Toure; Kyle Robinson, Matty Smith (Tyreke Wilson 60).
Subs not used: John Ross Wilson, Harvey Nugent.
Booked: Andrew Quinn (33).
Sent off: None.

Referee:Robert Harvey

extratime.com Player of the Match: Jack Moylan (Shelbourne).