- Patrick O'Connor
- Sat, Jun 24 2023
Patrick O’Connor reports from Richmond Park
Shelbourne are the draw specialists of the Premier Division but they were unable to salvage a point when going 1-0 down to St Patrick's Athletic in a closely fought and at times highly charged Dublin derby in Richmond Park last night.
The 145th meeting between these two sides produced only one goal, but there were nine yellow cards flashed by referee Rob Hennessy and plenty of talking points to keep the full house engaged up to the final whistle.
Shelbourne actually started the game the better of the two teams and they had the bulk of the possession in the first half, but they were guilty of some misplaced passes and fluffed the few half chances they had in the opening 45 minutes.
They were gifted an opportunity as early as the third minute when Pats keeper Dean Lyness made a loose pass to one of his defenders which was intercepted by Jack Moylan but he failed to find the target to the relief of the netminder.
They also had a few corners and free kicks which were poorly delivered and they never took full advantage of the aerial threat posed by centre forward Sean Boyd.
Pats for their part had a very youthful looking attacking division with Adam Murphy (18), Ben McCormack (20) and Conor Carty (21) all getting the nod from manager Jon Daly to start the game.
This trio worked hard without causing any trouble to Conor Kearns in goal and it took a trio of their more experienced players to create their only real scoring chance of the opening half.
Left back Anto Breslin swung in a dangerous cross in the 44th minute but Chris Forrester and then Jake Mulraney both had headers cleared off the line by Kearns before the ball was eventually hacked away to safety.
The intensity was much higher after the break and there was a melee on the half way line in the 56th minutes which resulted in referee Hennessy issuing four yellow cards before order was restored.
The tackles continued to fly in even after all the bookings and the only goal of the game came as a result of a somewhat needless foul on the edge of the Shelbourne box in the 68th minute.
JJ Lunney lost possession and, in an attempt to recover the ball, he then bundled over one of the Shels defenders and presented Pats with a free kick.
Right winger Jake Mulraney stepped up and struck a peach of a shot into the top right- hand corner, a superb opening goal which turned out to be the difference between the two sides.
Damian Duff tried to rescue the game by unloading the bench but with Moylan unusually ineffective and Boyd being well marshalled by man of the match Noah Lewis, they never succeeded in threatening the Pats defence and went down to their fifth defeat of the season.
To compound their misery Duff was issued a red card after the final whistle after using foul and abusive language to the match officials as well as gesturing to the home supporters.
St Patrick’s Athletic: Dean Lyness; Sam Curtis, Noah Lewis, Harry Brockbank ( Jay McGrath 72), Anto Breslin, Jamie Lennon, Chris Forrester, Alan Murphy, Conor Carty ( Eoin Doyle 72), Ben McCormack( Jay McClelland 64), Jake Mulraney ( Mark Doyle 81).
Subs not used: David Odumosu, Thomas Lonergan, Thijs Timmerman, Darius Lipsiuc, Mason Melia.
Booked: Adam Murphy (41), Jake Mulraney (48), Sam Curtis (56), Mark Doyle (88).
Shelbourne: Conor Kearns; JR Wilson (Jad Hadiki 75), Shane Griffin, Gavin Molloy, Andrew Quinn, Tyreke Wilson (Shane Farrell 60), Mark Coyle (Gbemi Arubi 81) Evan Caffrey, JJ Lunney, Jack Moylan, Sean Boyd
Subs not used: Dathi Folan (GK), Conor Kane, Luke Byrne, Paddy Barrett, Kameron Ledwidge, David Toure.
Booked: Shane Griffin (51), Sean Boyd (56), Mark Coyle (56), Tyreke Wilson (56), Damian Duff (62).
Sent off: Damien Duff (post-match)
Referee: Rob Hennessy.
Attendance: 4,754
Extratime.com Player of the Match: Noah Lewis (St Patricks Athletic).
