St. Patrick’s Athletic 0
Shelbourne 1
Shelbourne defeat St. Patrick’s Athletic 1-0 in Richmond Park after substitute Dan Kelly ran through on goal and slotted a low finish past Joey Anang.
Dan Kelly was the hero for Shelbourne during their hotly contested Dublin Derby versus St. Patrick’s Athletic. The Dubliner hasn’t had the easiest start to life with the North Dublin club after being plagued by injuries during his two-year spell.
Shelbourne sat in 7th before tonight’s League of Ireland action. The Ould Reds have now fired themselves up to fifth with tonight’s win and have eased pressure on their manager Joey O’Brien.
For St. Patrick’s, the hosts failed to capitalise on Shamrock Rovers dropped points away to Dundalk. The Inchicore men could’ve seen themselves close the gap to the champions.
St. Pats hold an unwanted record of conceding six times this season in the opening 10 minutes. However, it was the saints who started strong, with an inventive flick from Forrester after neat interplay setting James Brown up. The right-wing-back, in an advanced position, fired over from close range.
Leavy minutes later blazed over as well after industrious play by Luke Turner winning the ball in the Shelbourne half.
Shelbourne made their first impact on the game in the 10th minute after Harry Wood’s deflected cross-come-shot needed to be expertly tipped wide by the ever dependable Joey Anang.
The game was waiting for the typical Dublin Derby tackle to set the mood and Luke Turner provided the Richmond faithful with just that, although at the expense of a yellow card after his hard challenge on Kerr McInroy.
McInroy would later respond with a crunching tackle of his own on Luke Turner – evens.
Pat’s continued to press and the biggest chance of the first-half came when Zach Elbouzedi was played down the line. The winger then got his head up and picked out Ryan Edmundson who could only watch his sliding attempt to tap the ball in fall just short.
Similar to the first-half, the second interval started brightly, but this time for Shelbourne. Harry Wood was moved into a more central position to start the second half and the midfielder saw his effort deflect off the chest of Joe Redmond, before falling to Milan Mbeng who smashed his effort against the crossbar from five yards out.
Alli Coote then had his turn to test the palms of Joey Anang from distance. Although, the Cameroon international had no issues with the Scot’s long range drive. Minutes later Harry Wood had a shot deflected wide by the ever hard-working Jamie Lennon.
After exquisite play by Chris Forrester and an unlucky control by Harry Wood, Pat’s won a free-kick in a dangerous position. Disappointingly in the end Forrester’s tame effort was easy picking’s for Speel in the Shels goal.
Joey O’Brien’s men came close again to breaking the deadlock, but a highlight worthy save from Joey Anang kept John Martin from planting his firm header into the bottom corner.
Shels continued to press for the winner and substitute Sean Gannon had a shot inside the box blocked by Jamie Lennon. Shels felt the Patrick’s man used a hand and referee Rob Hennessy booked Ibsen-Rossi for his complaints.
On the resulting play Dan Kelly, slipped through by Rodrigo Freitas, raced through on goal and fired a low strike into the bottom corner to find Shelbourne the win they were desperately craving with ten minutes to go.
St. Pat’s huffed and puffed in the five minutes of added time. Sean Hoare saw red in his frustrations with the referee and Luke Turner headed against the crossbar in the games final moments of chaos.
Man of the Match: Harry Wood
In a game of poor technical quality, Harry Wood stood out as the main creative force for Shelbourne and was unlucky to not score on a couple of occasions in the second half. The English midfielder was critical in the end to driving the midfield and sustaining pressure before Shels took the lead.
St. Patrick’s Athletic: Joey Anang, Luke Turner, Joe Redmond, Sean Hoare, James Brown, Jamie Lennon, Chris Forrester, Barry Baggley, Kian Leavy, Zach Elbouzedi, Ryan Edmundson Subs: Romal Palmer for Barry Baggley (76′), Darragh Nugent for Chris Forrester (76′), Aidan Keena for Ryan Edmundson (80′), Sean Rooney for Jamie Lennon (89′), Jay McClelland for James Brown (89′)
Shelbourne: Wessel Speel, Kam Ledwidge, Sam Bone, Zach Isben-Rossi, Milan Mbeng, Jonathan Lunney, Kerr McInroy, Will Jarvis, Harry Wood, Alli Coote, John Martin Subs: Evan Caffrey for Kerr McInroy (46′), Sean Gannon for Milan Mbeng (58′), Dan Kelly for Alli Coote (58′), Rodrigo Freitas for Will Jarvis (73′), Ellis Chapman for John Martin (88′)
Referee: Rob Hennessy
Attendance: 5041