City win has title race at boiling point

Soccer National League Derry City 2 Shelbourne 0Two-thirds of the treble still have to be won by this Derry City side if their achievements at the end of the year are to match their ambitions at the start, but, having put their rivals out of both cup competitions, Stephen Kenny's men completed an enormously important hat-trick over Shelbourne last night. Their first league win over the Dubliners hugely invigorates their title challenge.

Thanks to second-half goals from Ciarán Martyn and Pat McCourt, just three points separate the clubs at the top of the table. City have a game in hand, and with Shelbourne facing the tougher run-in, there was a sense at the Brandywell that Derry's people believe they are on the verge of something great.

Shelbourne, who still must travel to Sligo and Cork, came here needing at least a draw to maintain their position of strength at the top of the table. Instead, they were comfortably beaten on a night when they failed to find their spark and were outplayed and outfought in every area of the pitch.

Late on as they chased a two-goal deficit the Dubliners did manage to pose something of a threat to the City goal, and Eddie McCallion was forced into a goal-line clearance.

For the most part, though, the home side controlled the proceedings and, right up until the end, they looked more capable of grabbing the game's third goal.

That they passed up a couple of good chances to improve their margin mattered little. Shelbourne, who now have beaten the northerners just once in 15 meetings since Stephen Kenny took over at the Brandywell, had been beaten again and they will have to have a good deal of character during the next few weeks if they are deprive their rivals of a first league title in almost a decade.

City were clearly the better side in the first half, containing Shelbourne's front two comfortably, stretching the Dubliners in midfield and generating the bulk of the period's scoring chances of note.

Barry Molloy was perhaps the home side's most influential player, with the under-21 international putting himself about tirelessly in the centre of the field to disrupt opponents on the ball and then using his side's possession to good effect as City poked and prodded at the league leaders' defence.

City's general movement, though, was what was causing Pat Fenlon's men most of their problems, with Gareth McGlynn faring well up the right-hand flank, Gary Beckett repeatedly dropping into the space between Shelbourne's central defenders and the team's midfield and Ciarán Martyn looking eager to press on into the box.

The former UCD man came closest to opening the scoring after good work by Beckett and Mark Farren, but the contact on the shot was poor and Greg O'Halloran was well placed to clear off the line.

That aside, there were only long-range shots from Molloy and Beckett - one narrowly wide, the other just over - for the home support to cheer before the break.

It was more, however, than the small pocket of travelling fans had to take heart from, for their strikers rarely linked up to any effect and neither was on hand to provide the required finish when Richie Baker did well to get above his marker and head the ball back low towards the penalty spot from beyond the right-hand post.

It was, in fact, the second minute of the second half before Shelbourne really gave their hosts a fright with Stuart Byrne firing narrowly wide from outside the area after pouncing on a partially cleared corner.

Five minutes later City made their breakthrough with Martyn grabbing his 13th goal of the season with a fine combination of balance and improvisation after his initial attempt to turn Seán Hargan's low cross home had been well saved by Williams.

The crowd went wild and taunted their opponents through much of the spell that followed with raucous suggestions that they were no more than "a small Dublin club".

Twice Shelbourne threatened to silence them with an equaliser before Pat McCourt, on at half-time for the largely ineffective Stephen O'Flynn, doubled the home side's lead to tighten his side's grip on the points.

It was a fine goal, with Beckett once more pulling the strings from a deep position and McCourt timing his run from the left to perfection before slipping the ball low past Williams as Rogers bore down.

The Shelbourne players looked like they knew it would prove a fatal blow as they took their places for the restart, and they never really threatened to turn things around.

Unlike the cup defeats, they do at least have the chance to bounce back from this, but Fenlon's men must be better than this if they are to retain their increasingly slender advantage at the top of the table.

DERRY CITY: Forde; McCallion, Kelly, Hutton, Hargan; McGlynn, Molloy, Martyn, O'Flynn (McCourt, h-t); Farren (Deery, 68 mins), Beckett (Delaney, 90 mins).

SHELBOURNE: Williams; O'Halloran, Hawkins, Dillon (Harris, 68 mins), Rogers; Baker, Ndo (Crawford, 56 mins), S Byrne, Cahill; Crowe, J Byrne (O'Neill, 78 mins).

Referee: D Hancock (Dublin)