It was a magic Monday at Tolka Park on Monday as Shels and Galway played out an entertaining and exciting 2-2 draw at Tolka Park this evening. Moses Dyer kept up his goalscoring run in Dublin with a brace with Chapman and Odubeko scoring for the visitors. It was feisty at times but a wonderful advertisement for the league.
Shelbourne struck in the first minute. An early ball into the box found Odubeko who laid it off to Ellis Chapman to fire across goal giving Clarke no chance. It was a fast start for the reigning champs. Galway tried to respond, Burns rattling the crossbar in the Fifth minute. Slevin then flashed a header wide in the tenth minute.
Shelbourne at that stage then had their best period of possession in the game neatly playing the ball out from the back and the chances slowly began to come their way. In the nineteenth minute a flick on from Norris meant Clarke had to save sharply from Odubeko. Odubeko was unlucky not to connect cleanly in the 24th minute as the ball pinged about the box and Clarke had an easy save. Coote flashed a shot wide in the 29th minute Caffrey headed wide in the 34th minute before Burns flashed a shot across goal for Galway in the 35th to give them a bit of respite.
The game took a turn in the 37th minute, within a minute Chapman rattled the crossbar for Shels before Dyer cut inside and curled a beauty from just inside the box into the right hand corner of Kearns net. Dyer appears to enjoy hitting some Burns skied a header in the 43rd minute having come flying into the box McInroy shot over in the 45th minute from the edge of the box.
Galway started the brighter in the second half after an early free kick which led to a Brouder yellow card came to nothing for Shelborne as they put Shels under early pressure Coyle and Chapman had snapshots that came to nothing. Dyer almost added a second for Galway but his shot flashed across goal. The referee handed Duff a yellow card in the 61st minute to compound his frustrations.
As the game became more end to end Hickey hooked a shot onto the roof of the net in the 63rd minute.
Shels sprang into action at that stage. Odubeko flashed a shot shortly after into Clarkes greatful hands and he was called into action seconds later saving a Caffrey shot. The pressure told in the 68th minute Odubeko received the ball at the edge of the box before turning and firing past Clarke. Odubeko was really firing at this stage and almost helped turn provider with Clarke forced into another save from Caffrey. Caffrey forced another save from Clarke with about 15 minutes to go.
Galway equalised in the 80th minute with Dyer firing past Kearns after a Hickey flick on. The game petered out a little bit at that stage with a Kerrigan yellow card the main event of note but Shelbourne perhaps should have won it in injury time but Wood fired over after a flick-on. John Caulfield was given a yellow just before the final whistle but he will undoubtedly be the happier of the two managers this evening as his side come away with the point from Dublin. The other worry for Shelbourne will be the potential losses of Ledwidge and Chapman as they both came off having shipped knocks in either half.
Teams: Shelbourne: Kearns, Ledwidge (Gannon 46) Chapman (Boyd 65), Linley, Coyle (Cpt) Odubeko, Coote (Wood 62), Bone, Norris, McInroy, Caffrey Subs Healy, Gannon 46, Wood 62, Boyd 65, Martin, O’Sullivan, O’Kane, Roche, Tulloch
Galway: Clarke, Slevin, Brouder, Walsh (Kerrigan 73), G Cunningham (Capt) (Donelon 73), Dyer, Hurley, Hickey, Borden, Burns, Keohane ( McCormack 89) Subs Watts, Donelon 73, Kerrigan 73, Wilson, Horgan, McCormack 89, Buckley, B Cunningham, Tollett