Damien Duff and his high flying Shelbourne team made it four games unbeaten in the Premier Division after goals from Harry Wood and Sean Boyd gave them a 2-0 victory over Cork City at Turner's Cross.
It was an instant response from the Reds, who arrived on Leeside looking to bounce back from last week’s FAI Cup defeat to Bohemians.
This was done with a gameplan that worked down to the finest of details, with Shelbourne scoring early and grinding City down by stopping any clear route to the goal.
After a slow opening, that saw Josh Honohan head the ball over and Kevin Čustović stop Tyreke Wilson from shooting on the edge of the area, City were forced into an early change. Joe O’Brien Whitmarsh came off and Aaron Bolger came on to play behind Tunde Owolabi in a 3-4-2-1.
While the home side had the majority of possession, Shelbourne had a cutting edge that they hinted at with a Wood shot that Ollie Byrne had to dive low to stop. The next time they tried something, it was a long ball that John Ross Wilson sent over the top and Wood caught this.
He ran through and gave Shelbourne the lead in the 20th minute with a routine finish at the Shed End.
The best City could do in their attempt to respond was a corner that Barry Coffey sent in. Shelbourne broke from this and Cian Bargary intervened to prevent Wood running clean through for a second.
Owolabi set up Coffey for the final shot of the first half but this went high and wide at the St Anne’s End.
The City management team reacted by replacing Coffey at half-time with Jaze Kabia.
Shelbourne weren't deterred and they should have scored when Moylan threaded a pass to Wilson, and he pulled back inside the area. There was no one there in a red jersey and City hastily cleared their lines.
The first time that Shelbourne were actually put under pressure was when a cross dropped to Čustović in the 59th minute and his volley went high and narrowly wide.
There was a late rally by the Rebel Army, pushing numbers into the opposition half but they were unable to get through the red wall that had Conor Kearns behind it.
Jonathan Lunney set up Boyd to score Shelbourne’s second goal, with the forward curling the ball into the opposite corner from the left hand side of the penalty area.
Cork City: Oliver Byrne; Cian Coleman, Aly Gilchrist, Tunde Owolabi, Barry Coffey (Jaze Kabia 45), Cian Bargary (Josh Fitzpatrick 81), Rokas Stanulevičius, Conor Drinan (John O’Donovan 81), Josh Honohan, Kevin Čustović (Oran Crowe 86), Joe O’Brien Whitmarsh (Aaron Bolger 12).
Shelbourne: Conor Kearns; John Wilson, Andrew Quinn, Jonathan Lunney, Mark Coyle, Jack Moylan (William Jarvis 74), Tyreke Wilson (Shane Farrell 85), Harry Wood (Sean Boyd 68), Gavin Molloy, Evan Caffrey (Jad Hakiki 85), Kameron Lewidge.
Referee: David Dunne
