Derry City 1 Shelbourne 2
Derry City surrendered their unbeaten record at a packed Brandywell on Friday night, Damien Duff’s Shelbourne producing a much improved second half performance to take the three points having fallen behind during the opening period.
In the end, the Candystripes failed to put this game to bed having dominated the first half in from of an estimated 3,500 supporters.
In the end, the hero of the night will be Shelbourne’s diminutive winger, substitute Brian McManus, who not only netted the winning goal, but also made a vital last ditch tackle to deny Derry an equaliser during the latter stages.
While Derry will remain on the Premier Division summit, their undefeated record has gone and Ruaidhri Higgins will have work to do before this Monday night’s trip to Drogheda.
Derry opened on the front foot when full-back, Ronan Boyce brought the best out of Shels keeper, Brendan Clarke, who parried the effort to safety. Clarke was called into action again in the 25th minute when a slick exchange of passes between Patrick McEleney and Boyce saw the latter denied again by the visiting keeper.
Derry grabbed that much sought after vital early breakthrough in the 31st minute, albeit in fortuitous fashion. Will Patching fed the ball through to Derry winger, James Akintunde, and while the Londoner appeared to bring the ball under control using an arm, he managed to guide his low shot into the corner of the net from 12 yards.
That strike brought the Brandywell to life, the capacity attendance raising the noise levels, while the visiting dugout was predictably furious with the match official’s failure to disallow the effort.
Having failed to seriously trouble the home defence, The Tolka Park side showed a physical aspect to their game, referee Rob Hennessy flashing yellow cards to defenders Adam Thomas, Aaron O’Driscoll and Luke Byrne before the opening half ended.
And as the referee made his way off the pitch at the break, a verbal altercation with Shels official Alan Quinn saw the referee produce a red card, while another official, Joey O’Brien, saw yellow in the 58th minute.
To be fair the visitors upped the ante from the start of the second half and they could so easily have equalised in the 52 minute when Shane Farrell sent Dan Carr through but the striker dragged his angled shot agonisingly wide of Nathan Gartside’s upright.
However, Shelbourne’s persistence finally paid off in the 58th minute when Kameron Ledwidge robbed Derry’s Brandon Kavanagh and his incisive pass sent Shane Farrell through. His low drive found the bottom corner of the net to level matters.
With 15 minutes left Shels stunned the ‘Candystripes’ when taking the lead, substitute Brian McManus gained possession 25 yards from goal and he let fly to see the ball scream into the Derry net and the home lot were now in trouble.
Cameron Dummigan had a shot saved by Clarke in the 83rd minute, Jamie McGonigle also denied by the keeper from the rebound. Derry huffed and puffed to the end of five additional minutes, during which Shels Aidan Dervin was sent off having received a second yellow card.
Derry City: Gartside; Boyce, Toal, S. McEleney (McLaughlin 90+2 mins), McJannett; Patching, Dummigan; Akintunde (Lafferty 62 mins), P. McEleney (Smith 62 mins), Kavanagh (Thomson 81 mins); McGonigle.
Shelbourne: Clarke; Thomas (McManus 60 mins), O’Driscoll, (Griffin 60 mins), Byrne, Ledwidge, Kane; McEneff (Moylan 60 mins), Coyle, Dervin; Farrell (Lunney 86 mins), Carr (Boyd 76 mins).
Referee: R Hennessy
