Setanta Cup/Shelbourne - 1 Derry City - 1: Still without a win in the league, Shelbourne once again did just about enough to get by in the Setanta Cup last night at Tolka Park where the injury-time equaliser they conceded to Derry City booked them a place in next week's semi-final but left them facing a trip to Cork on Monday rather than the somewhat more attractive prospect of a visit from Drogheda 24 hours later.
Even the need for a trek to Turner's Cross must have seemed an enviable enough outcome to Derry City as they trundled home last night. Ciarán Martyn's goal was, as they say, too little too late for the northerners who sought to take the game to their opponents at every opportunity but simply weren't good enough over the course of the 90 minutes to earn the victory that would have carried them into the competition's last four at the expense of Pat Fenlon's men.
City's hopes of getting the win they needed to be sure of a place in the competition's next phase were dealt what ultimately proved to be a fatal blow a little over a quarter of an hour in when Jason Byrne drove a close-range shot past David Forde for his sixth goal in eight games this season. Glen Crowe had done the hard bit, taking possession out on the right and beating off a challenge from Eddie McCallion before finding his strike partner in an almost embarrassing amount of space although there was a hint of a push on the Derry left back as the Dubliner moved into the box.
Had David Forde stood his ground he might still have saved from Byrne but he moved too soon and was punished for the mistake. At the other end Steve Williams had been more fortunate a few minutes earlier when Mark Farren rounded the Welshman only to see his shot from a tight angle clip the outside of the post and fly behind for a goal-kick.
Thereafter, the half alternated between bouts of quick, attractive passing football and error-ridden exchanges in midfield where neither side seemed capable of getting on top.
City enjoyed some good spells and Ken Oman sent a header crashing off the crossbar from Pat McCourt's corner but, for all their industry, neither the former Shamrock Rovers winger nor Gary Beckett could quite open up the Shelbourne defence sufficiently for one of their team-mates to grab an equaliser.
At half-time Stephen Kenny juggled things, bringing Brian Cash in on the right side of midfield, switching McCourt to the left and dropping Killian Brennan to left back in place of McCallion, but the results were mixed.
With news filtering through of Linfield's goal spree at Windsor Park, the northerners must have known that only a win would now do them and they became increasingly anxious to get forward. At the back, though, they had a couple of close shaves with Ollie Cahill's pace clearly a problem for Kevin Deery and his crosses were a concern for Oman and Peter Hutton in the centre.
Kenny subsequently upped the ante 17 minutes from time by replacing Deery, a full-back, with Stephen O'Flynn, another striker, and moments later his side went close again; Stuart Byrne deflecting Martyn's shot just over. They continued to have the better of things over the closing stages but could manage no more than a couple of half chances as Shelbourne looked comfortable.
The win looked assured and Crowe might well have added a second in the last minute of ordinary time, but his disappointing finish after Crawley had sent him racing clear still didn't look to be of any great significance until Martyn struck moments later with a shot from the edge of the area that Williams should have gotten down to more quickly.
SHELBOURNE: Williams; Dillon, Harris, Rogers, Crawley; Ryan, S Byrne (Crawford, 88 mins), Ndo, Cahill (Baker, 77 mins); J Byrne, Crowe.
DERRY CITY: Forde; Deery (O'Flynn, 73 mins), Hutton, Oman, McCallion (Cash, half-time); McCourt, Martyn, Molloy, Brennan; Farren, Beckett (McHugh, 59 mins).
Referee: D Malcolm (Bangor).
