skip to main content

St Patrick's Athletic sweep past Shelbourne to open season in style

Updated / Friday, 18 Feb 2022 22:01
Darragh Burns opened the scoring for Pats
Darragh Burns opened the scoring for Pats

St Patrick's Athletic cruised past a doughty Shelbourne in an absorbing Dublin derby before a sold-out Tolka.

Tim Clancy's Saints hinted at a title challenge last week in the President's Cup and did so again but Damien Duff can look back on his first senior game as Shels manager with plenty to ponder, much of it positive.

A stunning strike by Darragh Burns preceded a Mark Doyle goal to seal the deal, Shels missing crucial chances in between that their endeavours merited, before Jay McClelland made it three.

FULL MATCH DETAILS

Tactically, Clancy did his homework on the Reds and it paid off.

It was a mixture of high-class fare and such frantic football as befitting a game to end the off-season and begin Duff's life in the dugout. He will have better nights and, no doubt, Clancy told him as much as the lights went out in Drumcondra.

It felt like freezing temperatures, a throwback to the many nights of winter football that Tolka Park regulars bore witness to, including this writer, who lived across the road in his first year of College.

It seemed as though all of the main players in Irish football were here, including the PFAI's Stephen McGuinness, who recalled that his first memory of a football stadium was seeing then European champions Liverpool play Home Farm in Tolka Park.

Plenty for Damien Duff to ponder

As it is now, Liverpool and the Premier League have a hold on this country but things are changing and Duff's arrival on the scene has been a Godsend for the game. Well over half an hour before kick-off here, fathers were seated beside sons, keeping them warm as they could, perhaps regaling them with tales of Tolka.

The tea ladies were accepting card payment, one of the few signs of modernity in a ground long weathered; one, nevertheless, which Shels fans, Duff and many more besides are fighting tenaciously to defend in a city slowly losing that which makes it special.

Cold as it was - bitter - no outfield player felt the need for gloves: one doubts either Clancy or Duff would have approved. This was always going to be a proper Dublin derby.

And the old place was rocking within a minute, Dan Carr hooking home from close-range, only for the offside flag to belatedly reveal itself.

That Bohemians let Jack Moylan go in the off-season baffled but Duff believes in him and he missed a really good chance on seven minutes, dragging wide inside the box.

On 16 minutes Moylan again raided, the Saints defenders backpedaling, but his shot was straightforward for Joseph Anang.

The lead goal was nothing short of outrageous 19 minutes in. Daniel Hawkins lost possession for Shels before Burns turned inside and hammered the ball into the top corner from 25 yards, Saints having been generally subdued hitherto.

Midway through the half "Save Tolka Park" banners were unfurled but eventually the Richmond Road-side sign had to be hauled down as those in the front row couldn't see the game. For now, football and politics cannot mix.

Burns reportedly has eyes on a move but Saints won't countenance his departure for crumbs. James Abankwah is leaving but to Udinese for proper money and his first-half performance for a kid not long turned 18 here was something else. Comparisons with a young Paul McGrath are less fanciful than they seem.

Lennon found Burns on 37 minutes and, Shels petrified of tackling him, he curled just wide from the edge of the box.

Superb Saints football nearly killed the game before the break. King did exceptionally well and found one Doyle (Eoin) and his clever header found another (Mark) only for Aaron O'Driscoll to fashion a despairing block that his father Maurice would have been proud of.

Kane raided down the left at the start of the second half and centred for Carr who found some space but really should have made life more difficult for Anang. Still, encouragement for the Reds and Carr squared to Hawkins on seven second-half minutes but he only found Anang's hands when he perhaps should have scored.

Saints were clearly instructed to keep three or four players up the pitch to pin Shels back and pressure them into mistakes such as the one made by Mark Coyle on the hour. Mark Doyle picked up, ran at the defence and found the bottom corner despite Lewis Webb getting a hand to it.

King nearly had a goal-of-the-season contender only for a rasper to cannon off the bar from around 30 yards, the Reds rattled.

In Moylan, Duff has a gem, though substitute Stanley Anaebonam wished that the Dubliner squared rather than fire over with 20 to go.

Jordan McEneff's signing could be a coup too and the substitute, on loan from Arsenal, forced Anang, on loan from across London at West Ham, to tip over.

Chris Forrester, relatively quiet, fancied a screamer of his own; Webb, illustrating what brought him here, did well to tip above the posts; he did the same from the corner, Abankwah bidding to get on the scoresheet to cap a memorable performance.

Mark Doyle had a night to remember too and he squared for McClelland to make it 3-0 with four minutes to go.

The scoreline was harsh on Duff's Shels but such is the reality of this game that has captivated him for so long.

And there was enough for the neutral here to suggest that both of these teams will have many good stories to write in an intriguing League of Ireland campaign.

And when Duff was subjected to "You're getting sacked in the morning" chants in injury time maybe, even he, saw the funny side.

Shelbourne: Webb; O'Driscoll, Byrne, Griffin (Ledwidge 25); Ross Wilson, Dervin (McManus 85), Coyle, Kane; Moylan (Farrell 85), Hawkins (McEneff 61); Carr (Anaebonam 61).

St Patrick's Athletic: Anang; Scott (Grivosti 74), Abankwah, Redmond, Breslin; Lennon, Forrester; King (McClelland 64); Burns (O'Reilly 85), E Doyle, M Doyle.

Referee: Rob Hennessy.

More stories on

Read Next