Shamrock Rovers regained the leadership of the Premier Division in remarkable fashion as Dublin rivals Shelbourne, reduced to nine men within 40 minutes, self-destructed at Tolka Park last night.
As might have been expected, the pace and fury of a top-of-the-table Dublin derby mitigated against a free-flowing game early on. The drama began early as we had a straight red card for Shelbourne midfielder Jim Gannon, and a removal to hospital for Rovers' captain Derek Tracey, within 23 minutes.
Rovers capitalised on their numerical advantage by taking the lead with a terrific goal 12 minutes later. Pat Deans, Tracey's replacement, arrived at the near post to score with a powerful header from Billy Woods' pacey cross.
Shelbourne's house then really fell in following a catalogue of misfortune on 39 minutes. Goalkeeper Steve Williams was injured as he collided with Tony Grant on the edge of the area. With play allowed to continue, the ball ran loose to Marc Kenny out on the right and he instinctively chipped for goal. Peter Hutton handled the ball on the line as it was about to go over his head and was duly sent-off by over-worked referee Aidan O'Regan.
Williams was stretchered off and, like Tracey minutes earlier, taken to hospital with a leg injury. Back on the pitch, Kenny drove the penalty past replacement goalkeeper Gareth Downey.
Trying to hold out until half-time without suffering further damage was, not surprisingly, beyond Shelbourne who conceded a third goal three minutes into stoppage time. Pat Fenlon's foul on Jason Colwell was punished as Kenny scored his second goal with a terrific free-kick into the top corner from 25 yards.
The game now a mockery, the second-half was remarkable if only for the fact that Rovers didn't score again. Downey made a superb tip-over save from a Deans drive, while Sean Francis did have the ball in the Shelbourne net twice, but both times he was ruled offside.
SHAMROCK ROVERS: O'Dowd; Costello, Scully, Palmer, Byrne (Robinson 76), Kenny, Colwell, Tracey (Deans 26), Woods, Francis, A Grant (S Grant 65).
SHELBOURNE: Williams (Downey 40); Heary (Crawford 46), McCarthy, Hutton, Minnock, Fitzpatrick (Dempsey 46), D Byrne, Gannon, Fenlon; Geoghegan, R Baker.
Referee: A O'Regan (Cork).
