In the Airtricity League Premier Division, Shelbourne emerged eight points ahead, even after a no-score draw against Derry City, conducted at Tolka Park on Easter Monday. St. Patrick’s Athletic handed Sligo Rovers their second loss this season in Inchicore, while champions Shamrock Rovers made considerable leaps in the rankings. Following their 2-1 in Waterford, they were aligned with Sligo and Derry City at twelve points, however, leading the ranks was Damien Duff’s crew with twenty points.
The event at Tolka Park concluded as a lacklustre match, with Derry presenting a more refined performance after consecutive losses caused by Bohemians and Galway United. However, team manager Ruaidhrí Higgins was left unsatisfied, having failed to acquire a win on a day where defensive strategies prevailed, and scoring opportunities were scarce.
Both the teams had extended durations of ball possession during a dynamic first half, with an attempt at scoring by Michael Duffy of Derry, thwarted early in the progression. Shelbourne, on the contrary, missed a brilliant opportunity to break the deadlock during a counter-attack when Evan Caffery found himself offside, losing a valuable chance. Will Patching of Derry attempted a free kick over the Shelbourne goal post from 20 yards in another significant opportunity in the first half.
Top striker Pat Hoban of Derry was replaced by Danny Mullan, who was given a shot, assisted by Duffy, in the 62nd minute. Unfortunately, his shot was wide off the mark. An attempted Patching free kick in the 70th minute got deflected wide, forcing a corner kick as Derry started to regain control.
Derry came close to securing a win during the added six minutes when Cameron McJannet received a Patching lob into the zone, but the English player failed to overcome Shels’ alert goalkeeper, Conor Kearns.
The Shelbourne line-up included Kearns; Gannon, Barrett, Molloy, Wilson; Jarvis (Boyd, 80), Lunney, Caffrey (Farrell, 61), O’Sullivan; Burt (Ledwitch, 80); Smith (Martin, 63).
For the match, Derry City fielded Maher as the lead, along with Boyce, who was substituted with Todd in the 88th minute, Connolly, McJannet, McElhinney, and Coll. Patching, McMullan, who was later subbed off for Kelly at 75 minutes, O’Reily, Duffy, and Hoban, who vacated his position for Mullan at the interval, complete the rest of the team. The referee of the match was E O’Shea.
In other matches within the Premier Division, both Dundalk and Drogheda United were scoreless, St Patrick’s Athletic had a commanding 3-0 victory against Sligo Rovers, while Shamrock Rovers pipped Waterford to the post with a close 2-1 win.