Shelbourne 4 - 1 Wexford Youths

A scintillating first half performance gave Shels a 4-1 over Wexford Youths tonight in Tolka Park, despite a second half rally from the Youths. 

 

3-0 down at half time, Wexford came back to 3-1 in the second half through Danny Furlong before Conan Byrne put the game to bed. A Byrne hat-trick and a Philly Hughes goal carried the day for Shels, who now go through to the quarter final. 

 

Last season Shels hammered Youths 6-0 at the quarter final stage and Conan Byrne gave Shels every chance of repeating that scoreline with an early goal. After just three minutes David Cassidy won the ball after Shane Nolan dallied, and cut the ball back for Byrne to cooly finish in the middle of the Wexford box.

 

Shels- missing just two players from the side which lost to Sligo Rovers in the 2011 FAI Cup final, looked every bit deserving of their Premier Division status against a Wexford Youths side which has been overhauled in the off-season.

 

Philly Hughes doubled the lead after 20 minutes, heading in from a Sean Byrne cross just to the right of Graham Doyle's goal. Fifteen minutes later Doyle came out off his line to Conan Byrne, but the midfielder coolly slid the ball past the 'keeper to seal his brace. 

 

Youths barely had a half-chance in the first half, but were resurgent in the early stages of the second. Where Shels were allowed time on the ball in the first half, manager Shane Keegan had them press Shels far more after the break. Their harrying approach was fruitful too, with Shels scarcely having a chance on goal for the first ten minutes. 

 

Wexford looked threatening on the attack too, and substitute Chris Fenner in particular looked lively when he came on. It was Fenner's run into the Shels box on 71 minutes which led to the Youths goal. Brian Shorthall brought Fenner down and Danny Furlong slotted the penalty in.

 

Shels sub Gareth Matthews had an almost instant impact. He won the ball and surged down the right before crossing for Conan Byrne. Byrne hit the ball first time into the bottom right corner for the hat trick. 

 

The goal restored Shels' three-goal lead and more importantly, send them further on the road to claiming their 20th Leinster Senior Cup.

 

 

Wexford Youths: Graham Doyle; Mark Phelan, James Dermody, Martin Kehoe (James Scallon 66), CJ Browne, Shane Nolan, Tomas Croke (Chris Fenner 66), Shane Dempsey, Danny Furlong, Brian Nolan, Shaun Corcoran.

Subs Not Used: Cormac O'Brien, Jamie Carr, John Yeates, Neale Phelan, Eric Molloy.

Bookings: S Dempsey (62).

 

Referee: Neil Doyle.

Attendance: 213

Extratime.ie Man of the Match: Conan Byrne (Shelbourne).