Sport

Byrne at his best

Dublin City 1 Shelbourne 3: A Jason Byrne hat-trick saw Shels maintain their five-point lead at the top of the Premier Division…

Sat Jun 05 2004 - 01:00

Dublin City 1 Shelbourne 3: A Jason Byrne hat-trick saw Shels maintain their five-point lead at the top of the Premier Division at Tolka Park last night, and left Dublin City firmly rooted to the bottom of the table.

Byrne connected expertly with crosses from the left in the 37th, 46th, and 66th minutes for the goals that sealed the points for Shelbourne, as the former Bray Wanderers man again showed the type of form that saw him deservedly earn his first cap for Ireland, against Poland, just last April.

Shelbourne had started the game the brighter of the two and twice almost took the lead in the opening exchanges.

First Byrne saw a header cleared off the line by Ben Whelehan in the ninth minute, and Byrne was again involved moments later when his superb right-wing cross was met by the head of Glen Fitzpatrick, with this time the woodwork denying the champions the opening goal.

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However, Shelbourne finally made the breakthrough on 37 minutes. Byrne met David Crawley's cross with a swerving half-volley that whizzed into the bottom right-hand corner of Robbie Horgan's net.

How to contain Byrne was no doubt one of the prominent topics of John Gill's half-time team talk, but if City had a plan to stop the Ireland international, it didn't work, as Byrne darted between two defenders to head home a Wes Houlihan cross and double the advantage after only a minute of the second half.

The highly impressive Houlihan was once again the architect when Byrne completed his hat-trick on 66 minutes, the diminutive winger disposing of City full back Barry Burke, before picking out the unmarked Byrne who then completed the move with a neat side-footed finish.

By the time Paul Crowley headed a consolation goal for City five minutes before the end, the match was already long over as a contest.

DUBLIN CITY: Horgan; Burke, Whelehan, Byrne (Crowley HT), Foy; O'Connor, Colwell (Ennis 84 minutes), Tierney, O'Neill, Brennan (Scully 71 mins); Hughes.

SHELBOURNE: Williams; McDermott, Harris, Rogers, Crawley; McCarthy, Crawford (Morgan 49 mins), S Byrne, Houlihan (Shields 81 mins); J Byrne (Rowe 69 mins), Fitzpatrick.

Referee: H Whoriskey (Dublin).