Shelbourne 3-1 Derry City
Eoin Harrington reporting from Tolka Park
As Shelbourne and Derry City were welcomed to the Tolka Park pitch by flares on Friday night, we could hardly have expected that they would soon be the only source of light in Drumcondra.
The stadium was plunged into darkness shortly after the half-time whistle, after a suitably chaotic opening to the new League of Ireland season.
Shels went in 3-1 up at half-time but it would be nearly an hour before the teams returned to the pitch, as a blown ESB fuse saw a complete electricity blackout at the home of the defending champions.
Fans entertained themselves as the lights remained off for 45 minutes. The flares in the end behind the goal provided a rare burst of light, as we anxiously tracked the battery levels of our laptops in the press box.
The flares from the fans are the only source of light in Tolka Park amid a power cutpic.twitter.com/jkM4wPU5tT
— Balls.ie (@ballsdotie) February 14, 2025
It was a major challenge for the two managers, with Damien Duff and Tiernan Lynch unsure of whether their players would be returning for the second half.
Duff told us post-match that the only way to handle the situation was to treat it like any other game, for fear of boring his players into submission.
"You have to expect the game is kicking off as normal," Duff said, "You obviously soon find out it isn't and, like I said, it's just about staying calm then"
"We gave our team talk as normal. If I chatted for 45 minutes out there, I don't think the guys would come back out. They'd be f*ckin asleep."
Duff continued, explaining that he had taken a discreet wander around the darkened stadium.
"I ended up walking around Tolka like a stray dog at times," Duff admitted, "I went out on the pitch, you wouldn't have seen me."
For the Shelbourne manager, frustration must have been immense with his team 3-1 to the good and utterly dominant in the first half.
I think certain people within the stadium tonight were trying to get the game called off sharpish.
Come on.
I think common sense needed to prevail and it did. I think the League dealt with it brilliantly by taking the 40-45.
To call it off after 20 minutes of the lights being off would have been absolutely ridiculous.
We stayed calm in the chaos, everybody, and common sense came to the fore.
As the delay progressed at the break, the match referee had decided that a call would be made on whether the second half could go ahead by 9:05 pm but that deadline was extended by an extraordinary turn of events.
By a stroke of luck, a fan in the stands was also an ESB employee and came forward to look at the problem. He called in an on-call team, who made it to the ground in just 10 minutes and completed the "easy" fix (h/t to Dan McDonnell of the Independent for the scoop here).
Shels game is back on because of a stroke of luck - a fan at the game who works for the ESB came forward and asked to look at the problem. He identified that it was a straightforward fix and was able to dial the on-call team who made it out in 10 mins and fixed it.
— Daniel McDonnell (@McDonnellDan) February 14, 2025
Speaking post-match, Damien Duff said he had not been far off taking matters into his own hands.
I know there's certain rules with ESB. I believe it had to be an ESB technician or something.
I'm a big believer in 'I'd rather ask for forgiveness than permission.'
If it went any longer, I probably would have went over myself. I wouldn't have had a clue what I was doing! But, yeah, I would have tried something.
The lights came back on at 9:16pm and, just under 20 minutes later, the second half was underway, almost two hours after the game had kicked off.
With Virgin Media's TV cameras in the house, it was a remarkable way for the League of Ireland season to kickstart.
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Shelbourne v Derry City: Power cut delay follows crazy first half
Hype levels have rarely been higher around the League of Ireland, and the headline tie on opening night could scarcely have delivered better drama.
This was the game that saw Shels secure the title last year, and it was a blockbuster opening to the first half.
It was the champions who took the lead after 11 minutes, with Sean Boyd firing home from long range after a punt over the top from Harry Wood.
A crazy goal from Sean Boyd to get the League of Ireland season up and running
Pandemonium in Drumcondrapic.twitter.com/RmD3YNBfxQ— Balls.ie (@ballsdotie) February 14, 2025
It was the first of three goals in five minutes.
The jubilant celebrations of the Shelbourne fans were cut short when Derry's Michael Duffy levelled things up just two minutes later with a tidy back host header.
𝐈𝐓'𝐒 𝐀𝐋𝐋 𝐋𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐋!
Michael Duffy heads in at the back post - less than three minutes after Boyd's opener to level the game!#LOI pic.twitter.com/jIuKUinkxl— Virgin Media Sport (@VMSportIE) February 14, 2025
Almost immediately, the home supporters found their voice once more. No sooner had Derry equalised before Shels were back in front thanks to Evan Caffrey's deflected volley from outside the area.
10 mins: Shels 0-0 Derry City
15 mins: Shels 2-1 Derry City
Welcome back to the League of Ireland!pic.twitter.com/o9S2wH2jRq— Balls.ie (@ballsdotie) February 14, 2025
Sean Boyd would add a second from the penalty spot just before half-time to extend Shels' lead to 3-1 before the dramatic power cut.
Derry City looked far better in the first few minutes after the break but it was nonetheless Shelbourne who threatened the most, with Mipo Odubeko going close thrice in quick succession around the hour mark.
Odubeko's link-up play with two-goal hero Boyd will be of huge encouragement to Damien Duff.
The on-field drama was nothing compared to the bizarre power cut that interrupted it but Shelbourne will merely be grateful to have gotten their season off to a winning start, however long it took.
