Shelbourne make title case with impressive win over Shamrock Rovers

Shamrock Rovers 0-2 Shelbourne

Damien Duff and his workaholic Shelbourne players are laughing in the face of all those who doubted their title credentials.

They set a scorching early season pace after winning six of their opening seven league games.

Then they won just once in nine games and you sensed it was only a matter of time before the wheels would come off.

But no team has had the stomach to knock them off their perch, and, having passed the halfway stage in the season, Shels are energised again.

They are taking this title race by the scruff of the neck, showing rivals who are incapable of doing so the way.

Stephen Bradley has said he isn’t concerned by the Hoops inconsistency - but the champions are now nine points behind the leaders.

This was their fifth defeat of the season - one more loss than they had in their entire four-in-a-row winning season last year.

Will Jarvis saw to that with two fine penalties here at Tallaght Stadium - in front of 8,276 - on the most significant night of the season so far.

With Derry slipping up at home to Slgo Rovers - and the Hoops outfoxed here - who is brave enough to doubt Duff’s side now as they stretch into a six-point lead?

Shelbourne head coach Damien Duff celebrates after the game
(Image: ©INPHO/Ryan Byrne)

Considering their positive start to the game, Rovers could have been out of sight before Shels inflicted the killer blow of the opening half.

Trevor Clarke hit the woodwork in the seventh and eighth minutes to serve the league leaders an early warning.

It was all Rovers in those opening minutes and they were enjoying a prolonged spell of possession even if Shels keeper Kearns didn’t have much to contend with.

Johnny Kenny has five goals in his last seven games and was well placed for a sixth, but couldn’t reach Graham Burke’s ball across the face of goal.

At that stage, approaching the midway point of the opening half, Shels had barely mustered a break over the halfway line.

Not that Duff was panicking. And certainly not by the 19th minute when the league leaders went in front.

Kearns’ thumping kick outs are something to behold, and have been used as a point of attack at various stages this season.

And this time Shels won a penalty direct from one of his rockets.

Josh Honohan was caught in two minds whether to attack the dropping ball, and chose to leave it which perhaps caught Pico Lopes on the hop.

He was left in a sprint with Matty Smith and clipped the forward in the box with referee Paul McLaughlin immediately awarding the penalty and flashing a yellow.

Jarvis took centre stage and, with a one-step run up, clipped the ball past Leon Pohls to hand Duff’s men the lead against the run of play.

Rovers hadn’t seen it coming and nor could they have expected the spate of injuries that beset them before half-time.

Dan Cleary shipped a hamstring injury after 28 minutes before fellow centre-back Josh Honohan was forced off with a head injury six minutes later.

Bradley had to tinker, with Lee Grace on for Cleary and Aaron McEneff for Honohan with midfielder Poom dropping to the left side of the back three.

And Clarke would follow them before half-time, taken off as a precaution after an earlier knock with Aaron Greene thrown in.

Amid all the mayhem, Shels were energised and went in search of a second. Evan Caffrey, their match winner against St Pat’s on Monday, wasn’t far away with one effort.

And when Poom slipped and gifted the ball to Jarvis, the Shels ace was only denied at the death following a lung-busting run when Poom got a vital touch to deny the shot.

But the Estonian international made a costly mistake on 57 minutes to set in motion the chain of events that led to Shelbourne’s second successful penalty.

Playing out after a Shels attack broke down, Poom tried to find Darragh Nugent with a ball inside, but Smith read the situation and snatched possession.

He quickly set Jarvis free and the attacker was about to run out of gas, while being chased down by Lopes and Grace, before he squared to Smith.

The Scot had continued his run having instigated the attack but was upended by Lopes in the box and the Rovers captain was dismissed on a second yellow card.

Jarvis stepped up once again and this time he rifled a high shot into Pohl’s net to send the large travelling contingent wild in the East Stand.

And that was the trigger for Shels to shut up shop. Despite enjoying the numeral advantage, Duff’s men dropped from a 4-3-3 formation to 5-3-2 to protect their lot.

And they did just that. It was Shelbourne’s night in a season they are making their own.

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