Uefa Conference League third qualifying round, second leg: Shelbourne 2 (Caffrey 25, Moore 85) Ajax 2 (Brandt 20, Gaaei 39) (Ajax win 5-3 on aggregate)
Sean Moore might go on to have a great career at Shelbourne and further afield, but the 21-year-old will always have the moment he secured a famous draw against Ajax at Tolka Park.
Time was ticking away, with the Dutch giants certain to progress to the UEFA Conference League playoffs when Evan Caffrey – Shelbourne’s earlier goal scorer – spread the ball wide for Moore to come off the right and run at Caio Henrique.
The Belfast winger cut inside Henrique and without hesitation, he curled a lovely effort around Ajax goalkeeper Maarten Paes.
Back came the visitors, with Eddie Beach, last week’s hero at the Johan Cruyff Arena, forced into a fingertip save from Toluwalase Arokodare.
READ MORE
It was not over. Shels needed a freakish block from Kameron Ledwidge in the dying seconds of added time to secure a morale-boosting draw.
Not much more could be asked of John Russell’s severely understrength squad.
Ajax in Drumcondra – of all the places on the football map – could easily have entered the realm of an occasion rather than a competitive European match.
Shelbourne had two looks at Paes’s goal in the opening 20 minutes despite living off 6 per cent possession. Twice Kerr McInroy stormed into the Ajax box after quick thinking by Rodrigo Freitas and twice the uncompromising Scottish midfielder was denied a shot on target by last-ditch defending.
That seemed to be that. The Dutch took over, with their German midfielder Julian Brandt controlling the tempo in the small pockets between Shelbourne’s two layers of defence.
It seemed inevitable that Brandt would shake off McInroy and let fly from distance. The former Borussia Dortmund genie ended up scoring from a short corner with Jorthy Mokio, when his speculative low cross skimmed off several shins before resting in the corner of Beach’s net.
The only noise inside Tolka Park at that stage was 306 Amsterdammers on this unique trip into a north Dublin suburb. Within five minutes, the visitors were stunned into silence as Caffrey shuffled onto his left foot to slam a shot off Freitas that Paes could only watch.
At 1-1, the old ground came alive.
Ajax’s Aaron Bouwman was fortunate to remain on the pitch after the 18-year-old lashed out at Freitas in an act of retaliation. Cláudio Pereira’s yellow card for Bouwman set a dangerous standard as the Portuguese referee almost lost control of the contest.
The blood was up on both sides. Marcos Leonardo was booked for clattering into Caffrey and Shels’ conditioning coach Mauro Martins also saw yellow for some choice words.
Before everyone remembered to play football, Freitas swept through the back of Daley Blind. The grizzled defender, with 108 caps for the Netherlands, rolled in agony on the grass as Pereira flashed a card at his fellow countryman.
It could have been red. The 36-year-old Blind did not reappear for the second-half.
Milan Mbeng won a throw off Owen Wijndal that almost resulted in Freitas making it 2-1 with a looping header. The livewire Portuguese striker was denied by Paes at full stretch.
Shelbourne were daring to dream. Ajax, though, burst their bubble before the break when Anton Gaaei pounced on a clumsy clearance by McInroy to bury a half-volley. That made it 2-1 on the night and 5-2 on aggregate.
The locals got a boost at half-time when Jackie Hennessy, the 85-year-old former Shelbourne and Republic of Ireland player, who took ill at Tolka Park last month, made an appearance on the pitch.
A notable absentee on the night was Paddy Barrett, who was not included in the matchday squad. McInroy wore the armband in the absence of the club captain.
What might have been for Shelbourne. Harry Wood, Shelbourne’s best attacking player in recent years, recently signed for Stockport County while Sean Boyd, John Martin, Mipo Odubeko, Jack Henry-Francis and Ali Coote were not fit enough to feature.
Ajax manager Míchel Sanchez had seen enough, withdrawing Brandt and Leonardo before the hour mark which encouraged Shelbourne to take chances.
A famous draw against the four-time European Cup winners seemed to slip away when Mbeng finished a cross from James Norris only for VAR to disallow the goal as Daniel Kelly was offside.
But it did happen. Moore’s late curler ensured that Shelbourne will never forget the night Ajax were held at Tolka Park.
Shelbourne: Beach; Mbeng (Moore 81), Bone (Gannon 60), Casey, Ledwidge, Norris (Jarvis 81); Caffrey, Lunney (Roche 73), McInroy; Freitas (Ring 73), Kelly.
Ajax: Paes; Gaaei, Bouwman, Blind (Baas 46), Wijndal (Henrique 69); Brandt (Ouazane 57), Regeer, Mokio; Carrizo (Janse 70), Leonardo (Arokodare 57), Edvardsen.
Referee: Cláudio Pereira (Portugal).
