A miserable game sees Shelbourne lose in the North Dublin Derby. An unfortunate result leaves Shelbourne fans longing for more. A Jordan Flores brace sends the Reds home without anything.
A bitter loss to our hipster neighbours doesn’t have a massive impact on the table, Shelbourne are still 5 points ahead of the pack.
Let’s talk about the first half:
We started the game much better than them. We looked the well stronger team, getting in chances early and going in on a solid start. In the 8th minute, Lunney makes a good run from about halfway up to about outside the box which he hands off to John Martin who’s shot takes a deflection and ends up out to the right where Burt is, he swings it in, but it takes a deflection off a Bohs player and goes out for a corner, which nothing comes of the corner.
After this both teams settle into the game, nothing really happening, a few half-threatening attacks for either sides but nothing major, apart from the fact that Mills picked himself up a yellow card, the first of seven yellow cards throughout the game between both teams.
In the 34th minute a ball is crossed box to box, Akintunde tries to get to it but Conor Kearns comes out of nowhere to try and get to it but in doing this, knocks over the Bohemian striker and the referee pointed towards the spot for a penalty. Was a clear penalty, Conor Kearns made unnecessary contact with Akintunde.
Jordan Flores lines up for the penalty, he slots the peno bottom right, Conor Kearns dives the right way but is unable to get to it, 1-0 to Bohemians.
Not even two minutes later Bohemians whip the ball up to the left side of our box, which is played around between a few of their players before they take the shot but Wilson’s foot gets to it and knocks it way up into the air and out for a corner. They whip this corner in towards the back post and Jordan Flores finds the header and converts it into another goal for them, 2-0 to Bohemians.
These 2 quick goals closed out a half where we see overall the better team. We had more quality and class it was just an unfortunate misjudgment from Conor on what to do and a well placed header meant we had some feat ahead of us for the second half.
That’s about all for the first half, not much happened after the second goal by Flores. A disappointing half on paper, but we were the better team for the majority of it. Let’s move on to the second half:
To start out the half, James Clarke is booked in the 54th minute. About halfway trough the 60th minute, Sean Gannon is on the left side of the opposition box and whips it in towards the centre when Chorazka dives to get it but couldn’t keep a hold on the ball, Sean Boyd goes down but referee says play on, John Martin recovers it and takes a shot but Chorazka makes a brilliant save, it’s hastily cleared outside the box, but the clearance was substandard, Tyreke Wilson goes down after an awful tackle by former Shelbourne player Dayle Rooney.
Dayle Rooney makes an unsuccessful plea to the referee before Will Jarvis puts the ball down on the penalty spot and lines up to take it. Chorazka dives left but Jarvis just passes it calmly down the middle and picks up his 5th goal this season for the Reds, 2-1.
Unfortunately, in or around the 63rd-64th minute, Mark Coyle signals to go off after going down, and this definitely killed our game. Coyler is an incredible captain and an integral part of our midfield, and when he got injured the team definitely slowed down. It was very blatant and noticeable.
Nothing of note until the 73rd when Liam Burt makes a mistake and Bohemians get possession in our half with a dangerous opportunity to attack. It eventually finds Rooney on the left side of the box who tries the shot but Conor saves it. After this nothing much happens. We try, and try, and try again for an attack, the riverside howl for the reds to try make an attack but nothing could happen, and the referee blew his whistle halfway through the 97th minute ending the game, and going down as a 2-1 defeat in the North Dublin Derby at home.
A sour taste was in the mouth of many Shelbourne fans leaving Tolka Park. Hotel California by the Eagles was played over the PA system as Tolka started to empty after a series of clapping and chants after the game for the players.
At points you could tell we were desperately lacking Coyler in the midfield. Another thing of note that lead to the slow down of our team was the atrocious amount of time wasting by Bohemian players, just lying down on the floor in “agony” after getting a tiny tap or two off of a Shels player.
Thankfully, Coyler did walk over to the riverside at the end of the game which is a sign he will be fine for the upcoming games.
It’s a tough loss, very tough, especially against our neighbours, but we must take it on the chin and move on. We just have to keep moving onto the next game, and hopefully get a result.
The Reds make the long journey out West to face Galway in Eamon Deacy Park next Friday, where we hopefully can come home with all 3 points. Unfortunately, due to the pyrotechnic disaster that took place in Drogheda, where a Shelbourne fan in the away end hit an assistant referee with a flare, the Reds will lack any fans to get behind them. An unfortunate situation, however the right punishment for what happened.
Anyways, we are still 5 points clear, hopefully we can extend this next Friday.
Thank you for reading my review on the game.
UTFR