In the first leg of the Europa Conference League’s initial qualifying round, Shelbourne bested St Joseph’s 2-1. Despite their victory, Shelbourne struggled to significantly pull ahead thanks to the efforts of Will Jarvis, who both assisted and scored a penalty during the match.
Shelbourne’s manager, Damien Duff, was left frustrated by his team’s performance, expressing displeasure that they’d not capitalised on multiple opportunities to clinch the game before the next leg, scheduled to take place in Gibraltar the following week.
Heimir Hallgrímsson, the newly appointed Republic of Ireland manager, attended the match at the stadium that houses 3,655 spectators. This followed shortly after his debut in front of the Irish press at the Aviva Stadium.
The team’s fans displayed their adoration for the club by unveiling a banner with the inscription ‘Raised on Shels and Glories’ in the audience, with the crowd engulfed in red.
Disappointingly, after their slender win over St Joseph’s, the Shelbourne team has a task to accomplish before they can celebrate. This was despite a promising start 27 seconds into the game, when Shelbourne got off the mark before St Joseph’s had the chance to establish themselves.
Jarvis, who had been named the player of the month the previous day, shined in the match. He masterly received a pass from captain Mark Coyle, navigated past two defenders, and positioned the ball for Coyle to send it fiercely into the corner of goalkeeper Alejandro Navas Ruiz’s net.
In spite of this early success, and dominating possession, the home side only managed to pose another serious threat to their rival’s defence in the 31st minute of the match, thanks once more to Jarvis’ playmaking abilities.
St Joseph’s got their first chance at goal just two minutes before Liam Walker shot a low drive wide from afar. Shelbourne’s first legitimate set-piece showed potential at 37 minutes, however Coyle’s header, angled from Burt’s delivery, didn’t cause much trouble for Navas Ruiz. St Joseph’s first corner of the game was not adequately defended by Shelbourne, leading to a costly error made just five minutes prior to halftime. Walker’s floating cross hit Francisco Paul Curado in the stomach and bounced past Conor Kearns, resulting in an unexpected equaliser.
For the second half, Seán Boyd replaced Matty Smith, enabling Shelbourne to position two up top. Their straight-forward strategy paid off at 58 minutes, when John Martin got fouled in a dual tackle with Manuel Sanchez Lopez and Gabriel Cardozo Tomas in the penalty area. Jarvis confidently stepped up to succeed with a penalty kick, shooting high while Navas Ruiz moved the opposite way. Despite introducing attacking players Ali Coote, Harry Wood, and Caffrey, Shelbourne maintained difficulties in front of goal. However, at 80 minutes the situation looked to be improving. Seán Gannon, assisted by Jarvis, looked like he might celebrate turning 33 with a rare goal but Sanchez Lopez managed a diligent block. A few minutes before, Shelbourne felt alarmed when Alvaro Rey’s free kick narrowly missed a post after a rare attack. St Joseph’s seemed satisfied to bring a one-goal deficit back to Tolka Park, after a disappointing evening for Shelbourne.
Derry City have a challenging task before next week’s second leg match at Ryan McBride Brandywell Stadium after a demoralising 2-0 defeat to Bruno’s Magpies in Gibraltar. The game began on a positive note for Derry, with Adam O’Reilly, the midfielder, striking the crossbar with a long shot early in the match. They fell behind at four minutes into the second half when Ashton Taylor, the central defender, scored from a Carlos Garcia corner. At 81 minutes, Derry was caught off guard from another set-piece, with Francisco Zuniga scoring from a free kick.
The Shelbourne team featured Kearns, Gannon, Barrett, Ledwidge, and Wilson. In the midfield, Coyle was substituted by Caffrey at the 75th minute mark and Lunney while upfront, Burt was replaced by Coote at the 59th minute. Smith was switched with Boyd during the break, Jarvis was relieved by Bone at the 89th minute and Martin was subbed at the 59th minute for Wood.
On the other hand, football club St Joseph’s went head to head with players Navas Ruiz, Rey who was replaced by Bautista at the 85th minute, Curado who made way for Pons in the 69th minute, Jolley was subbed by Rosa at the 85th minute and Cardozo Tomas. Alvarez was also assisted off for Aznar in the 63rd minute. Other team members included Walker, Juanma, Sanchez Lopez, and Olivero with Rodriguez Moreno being replaced by Pena in the 63rd minute.
Luis Teixeira from Andorra was appointed as the referee for the match.