Shels stretch lead

Shels stretch lead

UCD 0-2 Shelbourne
Wes Hoolahan scored is first goal of the season and set up Richie Baker for the second as the league leaders increased the pressure on pointless UCD.

For the first time this season, Jason Byrne failed to score for Shels, although he had a couple of excellent chances before Hoolahan pounced. UCD tightened up defensively for this game and any time a Shelbourne player got possession, he found himself swarmed by men in blue shirts.

In fact, UCD could well have taken the lead at Belfield as Alan McNally fired onto the Shel’s crossbar on 18-minutes and Steve Williams had to be alert to deny Sean Finn just before the break.

Shels had few chances in a goalless first half as Byrne fired an overhead kick too close to UCD ‘keeper Pat Jennings.

The opening goal came just three minutes into the second half and was a messy affair. Jason Byrne’s shot was blocked and the ball broke to Thomas Morgan. He miscued his attempt, which fell to the unsuspecting Hoolahan, who ended up with the simplest chance to score.

Shels picked up the pace and doubled the lead on 77-minutes. Hoolahan played through a delightful ball for Baker to fire past a helpless Jennings to heap more misery on the home side, who have now lost all six of their opening games of the campaign.

UCD – Jennings, Sullivan, Donnelly, McDonnell, Ryan, Martyn, McNally, Whelan, Davey, Martin (Griffin 68), Finn (Gallen 80).

Shelbourne – Williams, Heary, T McCarthy, Doherty (G McCarthy 80), Crawley, Baker, Crawford (Oakes 57), Morgan, Cahill, Byrne, Hoolahan.

Referee- A Kelly (Cork)


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Its difficult to know what to say about Shels at the moment. We're not playing well, but by some luck and having a lethal striker, we're three points clear.
The question is- are we going to strike a rich vein of form and run away with it, or are we going to continue playing averagely and get found out by the better clubs in the division? Friday against Bohs will go a long way to answering that.
Operating with two wingers who hug the touchline is also leaving us a bit stretched in midfield. Morgan and Crawford frequently find themselves outnumbered, though their tremendous energy makes up for this.

Quote:

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Originally posted by The Sheliban
Operating with two wingers who hug the touchline is also leaving us a bit stretched in midfield. Morgan and Crawford frequently find themselves outnumbered, though their tremendous energy makes up for this.

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Yeah but youse still have Steuy "God" Byrne to return.... or will he make the team, and if not can we have him back please????

Lol!
It'll be interesting to see what happens when God returns.
However Crawford has now gone 6 games without getting injured, so he's due a long lay off shortly.

Well, the performance against us was quite professional. They went about it very well and played to their strengths, and there was only going to be one winner. Altho i spent large portions of Friday with my head in my hands, i did see shels passing the ball better than i've ever seen us do it, and they are very quick and sharp in attack and creating quick surprise breaks. It'll be interesting to see how the bohs game goes. Two very good sides.