A match review written by Matt O’Rourke
Damien Duff’s red army go home with another 3 points away from home in a valiant win over St pats , 2 goals from Jarvis send Shels supporters home with joy.
I have to say, my match prediction of 2-1 Shels was correct. I thought we had an alright day out and we were the better team,although we were unlucky to concede a goal.
Now we can talk about the match:
Before the game even started we were causing chaos. St Pats away ticket link crashed on the Monday the tickets were released. About half five or take of the tickets were sold with many top reds missing out that day. Quite a funny start to the match week, crashing the servers in Inchicore.
Now as first halves go I’d say we were bang on average. Both sides had great chances, we started stronger then them but nothing was formed of strong attacks from either side. Apart from some good plays and defence, nothing of note happened in the first half, and just like Bohs away the week before, we headed into half time 0-0. Just before the 21st minute we had an alright attack, the ball goes to the left side of the box to Smith but it goes over. Mark Coyle picked up a yellow card in the 29th minute. In the 32nd Jarvis had a good opportunity but just couldn’t get the curve on the ball and it goes wide.
That’s all really of note for our first half performance, we’ll now talk about the second:
One minute into the second half sees Kavanagh have a dangerous attack but Conor Kearns saves the shot. Then just before the 48th minute, we have a formidable attack, Boyd has the ball and sends it out left to Jarvis, who then just about inside the box on the left side decides to shoot and Roger’s just couldn’t get to the ball, and it’s 1-0 to Shels. This sent the passionate fans in the away end into a craze.
Liam Burt then picks himself up a yellow card in the meantime. Then we see Gannon running with the ball on the right side of the field in the 57th minute, he passes it into a more central area outside the box to Liam, which then he got the ball to Boyd before he went down, and then Boyd found Jarvis who takes it into the box a bit and shoots again, and it slots itself in the bottom right corner of the goal, 2-0 to the Auld Reds. And this goal just caused madness in the away terrace. I didn’t notice it personally but a minute after the goal Tyreke picked up a yellow card.
In the 62nd Duffer decided to switch out Matty Smith for Evan Caffery. Just before the 71st Wilson gets tackled in a dangerous position and Kavanagh gets the ball and whips it into the box which finds Mulraney who headers it, and Conor Kearns wasn’t able to reach it on time , which brings Pats back into contention of the game, 2-1.
The 75th minute saw Duffer look towards the bench again , this time deciding to take off Will Jarvis and Tyreke Wilson for Shane Farrell and Kam Ledwidge respectively.
Ten minutes after we first conceded pats were practically in the same position just this time not from a mistake on our part, and Leavy whips it into the box, Mulreany tried to get to it but it’s smothered out to the edge of the box where Breslin attempted a shot but it goes flying over and into the away end.
In the 85th Duffer decided to make one last change and took off Liam Burt and replaced him with John O’Sullivan. Eight minutes of added time was decided, but this is the second time we’ve had extraordinary added time with Rob Harvey as a referee, and I wouldn’t be surprised if I woke up the next morning with grey hairs after it. In extra time saw us get 3 yellow cards, John O’Sullivan the first, followed by JJ Lunney and the last one Shane Farrell. To be fair, Shane Farrell’s challenge that picked him up the booking was a crucial one.
Again after the ball going out a few times after the added time period ended, the malicious Rob Harvey still refused to blow the whistle and in the 99th minute he blew his whistle, and Shelbourne secured another 3 points on the road in what the ignorant League of Ireland social media manager named “The Richmond Derby”.
I’d like to touch on player performances:
Man of the Match is quite an easy one, Will Jarvis put in such a strong performance against Pats and just dominated. Both his goals were impressive and his overall attacking play was unmatched. He’s an unbelievable talent and got us the win out in Richmond Park.
Alongside Jarvis, Sean Boyd was also unmatched, assisting Jarvis both times in the match. He looked very strong on counter attacks as well I thought.
Another player I thought was unbelievable was Gav Molloy. I’ll say it now and I’ll say it again he’s in my opinion the best centre back in the league. He was a brick wall in our defence and his tackles were crucial, especially the chances he stopped in extra time. While on the topic of centre backs, Paddy Barret also had a good day out , headering away many balls that came into dangerous positions.
As always , the post game was good craic, especially on the Luas back home to the Northside. Overall as a team we had a very strong performance and was very similar to our game the week before, where we had a strong first half but came out stronger in the second half.
This mighty win over Pats puts us top of the league with a 5 point gap to Derry going into the international break. Our next game will be at home on March 29th where we will face Dundalk at home, who are currently struggling this season , sitting dead last.
I’d like to thank you for giving my article on our win away from home to pats. It might be a while till the next article due to the break.
UTFR