St Patrick's Athletic 1 Shelbourne 3:Shelbourne will contest their first FAI Cup final since 2000 after killing off St Patrick's Athletic hopes of glory with a commanding display at Richmond Park tonight.
After fighting back from a goal down in last Friday’s drawn semi-final, Shelbourne were forced to do it the hard way again in tonight’s replay as David McMillan headed the home side in front after just 15 minutes.
But the game turned in Shelbourne’s favour after St Pat’s goalkeeper Gary Rogers hauled down Kevin Dawson 15 minutes later.
Rogers inevitably saw red, and substitute Chris Bennion was unable to keep out the resulting penalty as Dawson picked himself up to level matters.
It took Shels just three minutes of the second half to take advantage of their numerical advantage, Brendan McGill firing home after a neat exchange between Philly Hughes and David Cassidy.
Shelbourne could even afford to miss a penalty, Bennion turning Dawson’s effort away, but made sure of their passage four minutes from time as Cassidy netted a third. Alan Matthew’s side will now meet Sligo Rovers in the decider at the Aviva Stadium on November 6th.
The FAI, meanwhile, confirmed earlier this afternoon that tickets for next month’s final will once again be priced at €10 for adults and €5 for children. Last year’s decider attracted over 35,000 to the Aviva Stadium with the pricing structure a huge factor in getting people through the turnstiles.
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