CANDYSTRIPES AS RED-HOT SHELS WIN AGAIN
Duff’s table-toppers keep run going 1
WHEN there is a Will, there is a way to the top of the League.
Ask Damien Duff.
He signed Will Jarvis on loan from Hull City last season and saw enough in the winger’s potential to revisit the Yorkshire club for some Christmas shopping.
And he came home with a bargain.
After the 21-year-old bagged two identical goals at Richmond Park last night, the value of that purchase became plainly clear.
The Jarvis goals led to this win, the win to three points, their lead at the top now stretched to five.
Strike
Which leads to the question: how long can they stay there?
No one, including Duff, knows, not just because Shamrock Rovers have yet to find their stride but also because there remains an element of the unknown to Shelbourne’s title credentials.
Year by year they have improved under Duff.
There was the run to the Cup final in his first season, then the march to Europe in his second, and now this: a charge to the top of the League.
You can see why they’ve made it this far, given the high levels of defensive organisation that exists, particularly around set-plays, coupled with a tireless work rate.
But to win Leagues you need swagger as well as sweat.
Duff certainly possessed that as a player, a trait he has carried into the dug-out.
Yet for all Shelbourne did well in this match, their early dominance in midfield, their ability to tune into striker Sean Boyd’s wavelength, you sensed the succession of first-half misses would come back to haunt them.
It didn’t, of course, but when Matty Smith was firing a 21st minute shot over the crossbar, and when Will Jarvis’ run and shot ended off target, you wondered if this would be their night.
Their resilience helped in this regard because there were moments when Pat’s could easily have scored, Gavin Molloy making timely interventions in the air, Paddy Barrett on the floor, as Pat’s put together decent passages of play.
Like Shels, they too, are somewhat different to last year, Sam Curtis a significant loss, as is
Mark Doyle.
The other thing that has departed is their confidence. They played with very little of that last night, trying panicky shots, failing to connect with their big centre forward, Ruairi Keating.
And yet they were unlucky not to take the lead prior to Shelbourne’s opening goal, Jamie Lennon seeing his 15th minute shot deflect wide, Brandon Kavanagh going close on two occasions, ref Rob Harvey waving away a penalty appeal after the ball struck JJ Lunney’s hand.
And then the game turned in sixty dramatic seconds.
At one end, Kavanagh fired a shot inches wide of Conor Kearns’ post.
Danger averted, Shels launched an attack of their own.
Boyd, their tall centre forward, received possession with his back to goal and had the awareness to know where Jarvis was positioned.
One well timed pass was followed by an equally accurate shot. 1-0 Shels.
Soon it was two. Again Boyd was involved; again Jarvis was the recipient of his centre-forward’s pass. And again the winger was precise with his shot. 2-0 Shels.
At this point, with a third of the game remaining, there was no sense of Pat’s finding a way back into it.
But gradually they found their rhythm, Jon Daly’s substitutions working out, Jake Mulraney getting a goal back with a
clever header.
Pressure
And there and then you expected the tide to turn, Mulraney’s (inset) goal coming after five minutes of sustained St Pat’s pressure.
But Duff managed to tweak things tactically, pushing players forward to provide Boyd with some necessary company in attack, thereby offering Shels the outlet they were denied in the minutes prior to that Mulraney goal.
More than that, they continued to defend with determination and heart as the clock ticked towards 98 minutes before finally Harvey blew his final whistle.
They’re genuine title contenders. That is the big lesson from Richmond Park.
Rogers ............................................ 6 Freeman ......................................... 5 Redmond ......................................... 7 Turner ............................................. 6 Breslin ............................................ 6 B Kavanagh ..................................... 7 Lennon ........................................... 6 Forrester ........................................ 6 Leavy ............................................... 7 McClelland ...................................... 6 Keating ........................................... 6
Mulraney (McClelland 60) ............ 6 Sjoberg (Freeman 60) ................... 6 Melia (Forrester 87)
WILL JARVIS
Sharp shooting Shels star
Kearns ............................................ 7 Gannon ........................................... 7 Barrett ........................................... 8 Molloy ............................................. 8 Wilson .............................................. 7 Burt ................................................. 7 Lunney ........................................... 8 Coyle ............................................... 7 Jarvis ............................................. 9 Smith .............................................. 8 Boyd ............................................... 8
Caffrey (Smith 60) ........................ 6 Ledwidge 6 (Wilson 75) ................. 6 Farrell (Jarvis 75) .......................... 6 O’Sullivan (Burt 85)
PAT FREEMAN
Didn’t get close enough to Jarvis
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