Shelbourne win League title in dramatic circumstances after late winner
Harry Wood sprung from the bench to fire Shelbourne to the league title in Derry.
Derry City 0-1 Shelbourne
Was there ever any doubt?
Damien Duff’s men have produced so many Late Late Shows this season, so it was fitting that they conjured up one more to seal Shelbourne’s first Premier Division title in 18 long years.
Harry Wood was sprung from the bench and it was his reaction to Sean Boyd’s 85th minute deflected free-kick, which was saved by Brian Maher, that delivered the ultimate prize.
There were suggestions that Wood was offside when he pounced on the rebound, but Shels will argue that they should have had a penalty minutes earlier when another sub Ali Coote was brought down by Mark Connolly.
Shels have benefitted from so many late goals this season - this was their 11th inside the final 10 minutes. Wood should have made it 12 deep into injury-time, but this time he fluffed his lines as he raced through on goal.
The visiting fans greeted the final whistle with a pitch invasion, while a tiny handful of home supporters reacted by throwing flares and missiles towards the jubilant champions.
Most of the Ryan McBride Brandywell faithful applauded as the new League of Ireland champions celebrated - and they were applauded in return by Duff, who broke momentarily from the on-field celebrations to show his appreciation.
An appeal from the stadium announcer to clear the pitch - with a warning that there would be no trophy presentation otherwise - fell on deaf ears as Reds fans sang ‘In your head, Rovers’ to the tune of Zombie.
Their elation was in stark contrast to the sense the frustration around the Brandywell ahead of a game that, for much of the season, looked set to be a winner-takes-all title decider.
But in a dreadful run of form, Derry picked up just six points in the seven games prior to Friday, with just one win in that time, an Oriel Park result that relegated Dundalk.
Shels, on the other hand, produced it when it mattered the most by winning their final three.
The sense of indifference among the Candystripes faithful to this fixture was summed up by a banner unveiled just before kick-off that read, ‘Bring on the Drogs’, in reference to next weekend’s FAI Cup.
That didn’t mean they weren’t going to poke fun at the 300-odd visiting fans - and they celebrated news of Shamrock Rovers’ early goal in Tallaght with chants of, ‘You’re not top of the league’.
Shels started well, but while they controlled the tempo in the early stages they struggled to make inroads in the final third.
Their best chance of the opening half came in the 17th minute when Sean Boyd’s flick sent Burt racing into the right-hand-side of the area, but he drilled his angled shot low and wide of the far post.
Michael Duffy caused a few scares at the other end, but the closest Derry came in the opening period saw Paul McMullan skip past Tyreke Wilson and poke the ball through to Colm Whelan. His shot was saved by Kearns and Danny Mullen couldn’t force home the rebound.
Shels made a strong start to the second-half and should have broken the deadlock within moments of the restart when Boyd outmuscled Duncan Idehen and raced into the box from the right.
With the angle against him, Boyd went for power but his shot bounced off goalkeeper Brian Maher, who was sharp minutes later to avoid being caught out at his near post by a Jonathan Lunny free from the right.
There was a let-off for Shels in the 56th minute when Mullen’s header bounced off the top of Kearns’ bar, but it was one-way traffic after that.
And Wood finally got the goal that the travelling fans craved when he finished from close range.
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