SOCCER: St Patrick's Ath 1 Shelbourne 3:THE LONG, long wait for the FAI Cup to make an appearance back on an Inchicore sideboard was extended by another year last night as Shelbourne pressed home a numerical advantage in a way their opponents should have done on Friday night in Tolka Park.
This time, after Gary Rogers had been sent off just short of a third of the way through the contest, the First Division side rampaged their way from behind thanks to another hugely energetic display and goals from Kevin Dawson, Brendan McGill and man of the match David Cassidy.
As the locals struggled to come to terms with a third semi-final defeat in four years their cross-city rivals celebrated earning a place in the competition’s decider for the first time in just over a decade and their first against Sligo since they lifted the trophy for the very first time back in 1939.
Having blown things somewhat from a strong position in Tolka Park on Friday night, the top flight side got themselves back in the driving seat here for a spell although they did have Shelbourne goalkeeper Dean Delaney to thank for their goal, with the former youth international dropping a harmless looking David McMillan header into his own net.
Shelbourne, to their credit, were unfazed by the setback. Philly Hughes again posed a lively threat around the edge of the St Patrick’s area, but it was Cassidy who persistently caused the hosts the greater problems through the middle while the home side’s full-backs found themselves repeatedly struggling to contain McGill and Dawson out on the flanks.
It was from the right flank that the St Pat’s match-defining problems stemmed just short of half an hour in. Shelbourne were again sweeping forward out of defence and when Cassidy chose to take a throw-in very quickly Pete Mahon’s back four looked distinctly unsettled.
Dawson picked up possession and cut in towards the six-yard box but Stephen Bradley was back providing cover and appeared to get his body between his opponent and Rogers in an attempt to allow his goalkeeper to take possession. Somehow it went badly wrong with Dawson going down as he sought to sidestep the midfielder.
Dave McKeon blamed Rogers, who insisted afterwards that he had done nothing, and the referee not only awarded the penalty but sent the goalkeeper off. Some among the crowd reckoned it should have been Bradley who walked while others were complaining about the spot where the throw-in had been taken, but Dawson simply waited for the fuss to die down and then coolly sent Chris Bennion the wrong way.
There was no controversy about Shelbourne’s second spot kick with Shane McFaul clumsily bringing down Cassidy with a hopelessly mistimed challenge 17 minutes after the break, but Dawson opted to put the ball in precisely the same place and this time Bennion guessed correctly.
By then, the locals were chasing things for McGill had given his side the lead with three minutes of the second half gone. Cassidy was again involved but McGill’s finish, a low angled drive, gave the goalkeeper no chance.
At that stage Alan Mathews’s men thought they were on the way to the final, but the tide turned against them slightly over the last half hour. Gradually, they started to run out of steam and as they did the Premier Division side began to assert some control, first at the back and then in midfield.
Bradley made a couple of half decent attempts to open things up for his side and Kavanagh never gave up working, but inside the last 30 metres or so they were consistently sloppy and Delaney, having made such a calamitous start, redeemed himself with a fine performance during the closing stages. Andy Boyle, to be fair, did save him the trouble of having to make a save one or twice with fine interceptions.
The centre-back’s contribution was eclipsed again late on, however, by Cassidy whose cracking late goal, put away with enormous composure as the defenders scrambled around him, sealed a memorable win for his side.
ST PATRICK'S ATHLETIC: Rogers; Shorthall (Stewart, 85 mins), , E McMillan, Kenna, Bermingham; D McMillan (Bennion, 29 mins), Bradley, McFaul (Daly, 64 mins), Doyle; Kavanagh; North.
SHELBOURNE:Delaney; Ryan, Boyle, Paisley, Byrne; McGill, Sullivan (Matthews, 85 mins), Cassidy, Dawson; Hughes (Gorman,88 mins) , Cassidy.
Referee:D McKeon (Dublin).
