Priceless Brennan strike could be Shels’ saviour
DROGHEDA native Ryan Brennan was on cloud nine this week after scoring the priceless winning goal that just might keep Shelbourne in the League of Ireland’s top flight.
Last year’s First Division champions were poised perilously close to the relegation zone ahead of Saturday’s fixture away to Waterford, but Brennan’s headed goal six minutes from time - from a free kick taken by Laytown’s Georgie Poynton - secured a 1-0 victory that gives Shels some breathing space with three games remaining.
‘It was a massive goal for us, 100% and it certainly made the journey home shorter!’ admitted the 28-year-old midfielder, who famously scored in the 2013 FAI Cup Final during his time with the Drogs.
‘We said after the two losses we had in a row that we had four massive games coming up and we had to treat them like cup finals, so it was brilliant to get off to that start in the first of those games.
‘Waterford did have a lot of possession, but we played well in patches and I felt we would get that one chance and thankfully we took it.’
The significance of the result, which gives Shelbourne a fivepoint cushion over second-bottom Finn Harps - albeit with a game more played - wasn’t lost on Brennan who knows how difficult it would be to get out of the First Division should the men from Tolka Park be relegated.
‘A big club like Shelbourne needs Premier football,’ he said.
‘I’m not getting any younger, but I’m going to keep playing hard and working hard. There’s three games to go and I’m going to bust a gut to keep us safe [in the league] and then we’ll look at the FAI Cup after that.
‘The First Division is such a tough division and last year we were getting out with 1-0 and 2-0 wins because there’s a lot of young players trying to prove themselves.
‘It’s quite a competitive league and you don’t want to get stuck in it, but the Premier is going up a level massively because you’re playing against better players every week.
‘There’s no thinking ‘I’m going here for a handy one’ - and even Shamrock Rovers and Bohemians at the top will tell you the same. There’s no easy games.’
Like everyone else, Brennan - the youngest of the four footballing siblings from Marley’s Court and now the only one still playing in the League of the Ireland - has had to deal with the added challenges associated with the Covid-19 pandemic.
‘Having no spectators has taken some of the enjoyment out of it,’ he admitted. ‘You want the fans in there shouting, to be the 12th man as so many clubs call them, and if you’re going for a winner or an equaliser in the last 10 minutes they can give you a bit of momentum.
‘It’s worrying times for everybody, unprecedented times, not just in football but in every walk of life, We don’t know what’s going to happen, but I think we are going to have to live with the virus.
‘From a football point of view we just have to try and be professional and stay focused going into games.
‘I’ve not had the chat with the manager contract-wise, but what we want to do first and foremost is keep our eyes on the prize [Premier survival] and then think about next year after that.’
As always, Brennan is keeping an eye on the First Division promotion race and he fears his home-town club might have blown their chances of winning the title, but that doesn’t mean they can’t get up via what the GAA would describe as the back-door route.
‘I suppose it was a difficult one [for Drogheda] to lose to Athlone after doing a great job and getting the win against Bray [the week before].
‘You feel as if it’s thrown out the window [title challenge] especially after Bray getting a great result on Saturday.
‘A club like Drogheda needs to be playing in the Premier Division, but if that means they have to go through the play-offs then I think they’ve a good enough squad to get in that way.’
There’s an argument that the Boynesiders could do with having Ryan’s elder brother available to play for the run-in, but the Shelbourne man said he wasn’t surprised that Sean had decided to retire a few weeks ago.
‘He’d been thinking about it at the start of the season and Tim [Clancy] persuaded him to stay, but he wasn’t getting game time and it’s hard making all those long trips when you’ve a young family.
‘Sean’s been a credit to the club for many years, he enjoyed his time there and he’s looked up to by everyone in the town, so you have to congratulate him on what he’s done.’