Shelbourne 5-0 Kildare County

By Séamus Leonard

Shelbourne went top of the eircom League of Ireland First Division on goal difference over Dundalk with a comprehensive win over Kildare County at Tolka Park.

Mark O'Brien opened the scoring when he got on the end of Greg O'Halloran cross in the 19th minute.

A David Freeman penalty doubled the hosts' lead with 20 minutes left, and he added his second from an Alan Mulcahy cross.

Shels grabbed two goals in injury time as Keith Dunne dissected the County defence before finishing and Freeman tapped in from close range to complete his hat-trick at the death.

Shelbourne manager Dermot Keely made two changes to the team that came back from Dundalk with a 3-1 win the previous week. Veteran Mark Rutherford came in on the left wing, as James Keddy served his suspension for the red card he received up at Oriel Park.

O’Halloran started on the right side of midfield, allowing Freeman to move up front to replace Philip Hughes who has an ankle injury.

The initial exchanges produced little goalmouth action as County were unable to make the most of a series of set-pieces.

A quarter of an hour had elapsed before Shels threatened when midfielder David McGill just cleared the bar with a clever lob.

Freeman then went close for the hosts, but he couldn’t direct his downward header on target after a cross from the right flank by James Chambers.

Shelbourne were beginning to find their stride and wasn’t long before they had unlocked the visitors' defence.

A sweeping move eventually found its way to O'Halloran. A low, driven cross by the former Cork City man came loose off a Kildare defender, and O’Brien, making a late break into the box, kept his composure to slot the ball under the body of Treacy at the near post.

The home side regularly tried to find Anthony Flood with long balls over the top, but it was when they got the ball wide to Rutherford and O'Halloran that Kildare looked stretched and vulnerable.

Shels would have taken a 2-0 lead into the interval were it not for the heroics of Treacy four minutes from the break.

The Kildare stopper did well to get down and get a hand on a McGill shot from distance. However, he did even better to haul himself off the deck to get a block on Flood's goal-bound volley.

The second half wasn't even three minutes old when Flood had a header cleared of the line by Colin Fortune, and seconds later Ciaran Kilduff’s effort from outside the area forced a good save out of Shels ‘keeper Dean Delaney.

Flood had a great chance to add to his tally of 12 league goals in the 54th minute. Rutherford played a perfectly timed and weighted ball through to the striker but he hit his shot straight at the advancing Treacy. By this stage, 36-year-old Rutherford was involved in everything good Shels were producing.

Flood went close again with just under 30 minutes left. Freeman cleverly dummied a Robbie Hedderman cross and 'Bisto' did well to get a shot off on the turn, but the 23-year-old’s attempt flashed wide of the upright.

Kildare threatened a couple of minutes later when it took two defensive headers from Shels players to clear yet another corner from Fortune.

The game was decided as a contest when Shels were awarded a penalty with just over 20 minutes left on the clock.

The incident looked innocuous enough, but referee Rob Rogers adjudged that Paul Donnelly handled inside the area and Freeman made no mistake from the spot, planting the ball to Treacy’s right as the Kildare number one dived the opposite way.

Shels added a third three minutes later when Freeman used his right foot to volley an Alan Mulcahy cross into the same corner that his penalty had nestled in.

Freeman almost completed his hat-trick when he got on the end of another Mulcahy centre but Treacy stood up to the 79th-minute header. Mulcahy nearly got in on the scoring act when he linked up well with fellow substitute Max Cream but Alan Clarke did brilliantly to get a block on the former's shot.

The Thoroughbreds were now a spent force, and they were punished twice in just two minutes of injury time.

Substitute Dunne's fine dribble ended with him clinically finishing to make it 4-0. O'Halloran then showed generosity as, when clean through on goal, he opted to square to Freeman to allow him secure the match ball by tapping into an empty net from close range with virtually the last kick of the game.

Shelbourne: Delaney; Chambers, Keely, Brennan (c), Hedderman; O’Halloran, O'Brien (Mulcahy, 61 mins), McGill, Rutherford (Dunne, 71); Flood (Cream, 78), Freeman.

Kildare County: Treacy; Clarke, Brophy, Donnelly, Clancy; Brady, Fortune (Slattery, 76 mins), Morgan (Kavanagh, h/t) Kilduff; Robinson (Broderick, 73), Gorman (c).

Referee: Rob Rogers.