Why Shels Being Top is Unsurprising
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After six games of this year’s Airtricity League First Division, Shelbourne are top of the table with a game in hand. A lot of people will not be surprised by this after being the bookies favourites to land promotion but the games we have played have been challenging and none of them have been easy matches. At the weekend, we had a convincing 4-0 win over Athlone Town in Lissywollen but our first goal came just before half time. Who knows what may have happened if the scores stayed level at the break. Athlone also had a penalty appeal turned down before we scored our first goal so things could have been very different. However, we managed to get an early second half strike and we played out the rest of the game very comfortably scoring two further late goals. It was also our first clean sheet of the season which was very pleasing.
We had started the season very well winning our opening three games. We defeated a very resilient Longford Town in Flancare Park coming from a goal down to win the game 2-1 and we followed that up two weeks later with a resounding 4-2 victory over Wexford Youths after we raced into a 4-0 lead after 44 minutes. We were very sloppy after this and conceded two poor goals to make the score line respectable to Wexford when we really should have went on and scored a few more goals ourselves. We then made our way for the first time to Fahy’s Field in Mervue where we grinded out a 2-1 victory against a strong Johnny Glynn side. They have improved leaps and bounds since I had last faced them in the League in 2009 with my old club. Limerick were the next visitors to Tolka Park and after starting the game poorly, we took the game to Limerick in the second half and deservedly took the lead with 5 minutes to go through Philip Hughes only for an injury time goal from Limerick to share the spoils. It was our first blip of the season but we had played well towards the end of the game, in my opinion, to deserve the three points.
Cork City have also started the season well. They are undefeated in their six games to date. However, they have drawn two games where I’m sure they were expecting to win, in Fahy’s Field and in Lissywoollen. They are a very strong, talented team and will be in the top 3 at the end of the season. Monaghan Utd are also undefeated and Roddy Collins has organised his team to be very hard to beat. They also have Fabio O’Brien up front who has scored a few goals already at the club. I said after the game in Flancare Park that a lot of teams won’t take points in Longford this season and I have been proved right so far. Longford remain undefeated since our win there, picking up home wins against Mervue Utd and Athlone Town. Limerick have had a mixed start to the season. After picking up a credible point in Ballybofey against Finn Harps and picking up wins over Longford Town and Salthill Devon along with the point in Tolka Park, they were defeated to an injury time goal against Wexford Youths last Friday night. They will be looking to recover this week against Mervue United.
Mervue have started this season better than any of their previous few seasons in the League of Ireland. I was very impressed with Rory Gaffney when we played them and if he stays fit and well, they will continue to pick up the impressive results this season. Waterford United manager, Stephen Henderson, would have hoped for a better start to the season and a disappointing 2-1 home defeat to Munster rivals Cork City last week would have disappointed him. However, with Stephen at the helm, there is no better man to change the fortunes around and as I always say, the league is a marathon, not a sprint. Wexford Youths started the season very slowly losing their opening four games to Cork City, Longford Town, Shelbourne and Mervue United but picked up a superb victory over Limerick last weekend and will hope to push on from here.
Finn Harps have only played four games so far drawing three and losing to Waterford United in the RSC. In their opening four games, they have had three red cards and this must be a concern for manager, James Gallagher, if they want to push on up the table. Athlone Town are a very young, inexperienced side and although they have very impressive young players and have picked up great results against Cork City and Waterford, I can’t see them moving too far up the table but football is a strange game. Finally, Salthill Devon sit at the foot of the division and will need to start picking up points. They picked up a credible draw against Finn Harps last weekend and will hope to pick up their first victory against promotion hopefuls Cork City this weekend.
This Friday night, we host Monaghan Utd and I am sure it will be a hard fought but entertaining game with both sides hoping to hold on to their unbeaten records. So come on down and have a look at two promotion hopefuls and you will watch a game full of energy, excitement and hopefully plenty of goals.
Finally, you may be well aware of my charity (The Conan Byrne Zambian Mission). A number of competitors are running on behalf of my charity in the Women’s Mini Marathon on Monday 6th June at 3pm. If you are running in this event and have not yet decided on a charity to run and raise money for, I hope you would consider mine. If you are interested, my email address is conanbyrne.zambianmissions@gmail.com. Thank you.
We had started the season very well winning our opening three games. We defeated a very resilient Longford Town in Flancare Park coming from a goal down to win the game 2-1 and we followed that up two weeks later with a resounding 4-2 victory over Wexford Youths after we raced into a 4-0 lead after 44 minutes. We were very sloppy after this and conceded two poor goals to make the score line respectable to Wexford when we really should have went on and scored a few more goals ourselves. We then made our way for the first time to Fahy’s Field in Mervue where we grinded out a 2-1 victory against a strong Johnny Glynn side. They have improved leaps and bounds since I had last faced them in the League in 2009 with my old club. Limerick were the next visitors to Tolka Park and after starting the game poorly, we took the game to Limerick in the second half and deservedly took the lead with 5 minutes to go through Philip Hughes only for an injury time goal from Limerick to share the spoils. It was our first blip of the season but we had played well towards the end of the game, in my opinion, to deserve the three points.
Cork City have also started the season well. They are undefeated in their six games to date. However, they have drawn two games where I’m sure they were expecting to win, in Fahy’s Field and in Lissywoollen. They are a very strong, talented team and will be in the top 3 at the end of the season. Monaghan Utd are also undefeated and Roddy Collins has organised his team to be very hard to beat. They also have Fabio O’Brien up front who has scored a few goals already at the club. I said after the game in Flancare Park that a lot of teams won’t take points in Longford this season and I have been proved right so far. Longford remain undefeated since our win there, picking up home wins against Mervue Utd and Athlone Town. Limerick have had a mixed start to the season. After picking up a credible point in Ballybofey against Finn Harps and picking up wins over Longford Town and Salthill Devon along with the point in Tolka Park, they were defeated to an injury time goal against Wexford Youths last Friday night. They will be looking to recover this week against Mervue United.
Mervue have started this season better than any of their previous few seasons in the League of Ireland. I was very impressed with Rory Gaffney when we played them and if he stays fit and well, they will continue to pick up the impressive results this season. Waterford United manager, Stephen Henderson, would have hoped for a better start to the season and a disappointing 2-1 home defeat to Munster rivals Cork City last week would have disappointed him. However, with Stephen at the helm, there is no better man to change the fortunes around and as I always say, the league is a marathon, not a sprint. Wexford Youths started the season very slowly losing their opening four games to Cork City, Longford Town, Shelbourne and Mervue United but picked up a superb victory over Limerick last weekend and will hope to push on from here.
Finn Harps have only played four games so far drawing three and losing to Waterford United in the RSC. In their opening four games, they have had three red cards and this must be a concern for manager, James Gallagher, if they want to push on up the table. Athlone Town are a very young, inexperienced side and although they have very impressive young players and have picked up great results against Cork City and Waterford, I can’t see them moving too far up the table but football is a strange game. Finally, Salthill Devon sit at the foot of the division and will need to start picking up points. They picked up a credible draw against Finn Harps last weekend and will hope to pick up their first victory against promotion hopefuls Cork City this weekend.
This Friday night, we host Monaghan Utd and I am sure it will be a hard fought but entertaining game with both sides hoping to hold on to their unbeaten records. So come on down and have a look at two promotion hopefuls and you will watch a game full of energy, excitement and hopefully plenty of goals.
Finally, you may be well aware of my charity (The Conan Byrne Zambian Mission). A number of competitors are running on behalf of my charity in the Women’s Mini Marathon on Monday 6th June at 3pm. If you are running in this event and have not yet decided on a charity to run and raise money for, I hope you would consider mine. If you are interested, my email address is conanbyrne.zambianmissions@gmail.com. Thank you.
