Shelbourne vs St Pats on Monday night was an absolute classic Dublin derby. With 8 goals, 3 red cards, 3 disallowed goals and 9 yellow cards, this was very likely the game of the season. The fierce rivals shared the points in a game that went down to the wire, with late chances for both sides
Shelbourne vs St Pats - A frantic first half
Shelbourne opened the scoring after just 12 minutes through Sean Boyd who capitalised on a poorly attempted clearance from Harry Brockbank. Boyd calmly slotted the ball into the bottom right corner to give the home side the victory. However, St. Pats' Barry Cotter levelled the scoreline in the 20th minute with a strike on his weaker foot from the corner of the 18 yard box. Unchallenged, his strike ran through a crowd of players and found its way to the bottom corner.
It's safe to say that the defence on show from both teams last night left much to be desired. This is summed up nicely in the following clip:
Me trying to reach my goals in life 😖 pic.twitter.com/UOY4rol3Y6
— Vinny O'Connor (@VinnyGUFC) October 3, 2022
In the 26th minute Matty Smith scored against his former team to put Shels ahead. Smith scored a sublime goal from 25 yards out, leaving Pats goalkeeper Danny Rogers with no hope, much to the delight of the home fans. The first disallowed goal came later on in the half with Pats' Mark Doyle deemed to have fouled Shels captain Luke Byrne before heading goal-wards a Jamie Lennon cross.
Minutes before half time (yes this all happened in the first half), Sean Boyd was unlucky to score an own goal. After a dangerous cross from McLelland, the ball ricocheted off Eoin Doyle, Brockbank and goalkeeper Brendan Clark. The striker attempted to head clear the ball clear, but instead headed into the roof of his own net.
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A wild second half
There was no easing in the second half, with Sean Boyd winning Shelbourne a penalty within the first five minutes following a clumsy tackle from Brockbank. Boyd did well to confidently strike the penalty down the middle of the goal, putting his side back in front, 3-2.
An extremely tight offside call in the 53rd minute disallowed St. Pats of another goal, with Eoin Doyle deemed to be offside in what would have been a tight VAR call. In the 62nd minute, it was Damien Duff's side who were denied a goal this time, as a clearance hit Matty Smith on the arm from close range in a spectacular block that lobbed the keeper.
Shelbourne made it 4-2 in the 65th minute when JJ Lunney took advantage of poor Pats defending, the midfielder producing a composed finish from the edge of the box to slot the ball into the bottom left corner. Just two minutes later however, St Pats were awarded a penalty after a coming together between Shane Farrell and Sam Curtis. Doyle finally got his goal as he sent the keeper the wrong way to make it 4-3.
Yet more drama! In the 70th minute, St Pats boss Tim Clancy and Shelbourne coach Alan Quinn both received red cards following an altercation on the sideline that grabbed the attention of the referee. Both were sent out of the dugouts in a derby that was certainly heating up with just 20 minutes to go.
In the 77th minute St Pats were awarded another penalty after Doyle was fouled by Shane Griffin. Doyle stepped up to take the penalty again, opting for the same side and brought the scores even. Both sides had opportunities to win the match, with Barry Cotter's free kick hitting the post and Matty Smith missing a close range shot before being denied by Danny Rogers in the 90th minute.
A fitting end to a fierce derby, Pats' Jamie Lennon was shown a second yellow card, and thus a red card following a late challenge.
The youtube highlights of the game are fifteen minutes long and still don't include every disallowed goal or major incident.
It's the best 15 minutes you'll spend today
Shelbourne manager reaction
After the game, Shelbourne manager Damien Duff felt as if his side should have won the match, having produced the better chances. Aditionally, Duff believes yesterday's contest has brought back to life one of Irish football's most fierce rivalries, with Shelbourne retaining their place in the Premier Division for next season:
It means they know we’re here, we’re back, we’ll obviously be here next year. Hopefully it’s here to stay, the rivalry between Pats and Shels has gone on for a long, long time and maybe we’ve just added a little bit of fuel to it again.
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