Sunday, July 17, 2016

Two Dublin derbies: one decided by brilliance, the other by farce

Two Dublin Derbies across two different divisions in two days. One decided by brilliance, the other by farce.

On Friday night in Tallaght, Sean Boyd netted Shamrock Rovers' third in a 3-1 Premier Division win over Bohemians, a sublime teamwork goal which started with Dean Clarke and featured an excellent one-two between Gary Shaw and Boyd, the latter finishing emphatically beyond Bohs 'keeper Dean Delany. 

 Not bad for an 18 year old who had just signed pro terms with the Hoops days before. Boyd, pumped up by the magnitude of such a goal against his club's fiercest rivals, sprinted towards the Bohs support in the ground and celebrated right in front of them. He wasn't too bothered about the reaction this incited.

 "It's the biggest game of the season for our fans," Boyd told myself and Dave Donnelly, there for Extratime.ie, along with other assembled media afterwards. "Rovers fans would love that as well, so I don't regret it one bit. I'd do it again."

eirSport showed Shamrock Rovers-Bohemians live and tweeted out the match highlights as they happened. The move leading up to Boyd's goal is a thing of beauty. Source: Twitter, @eirSport.

 Then, on Saturday night in Drumcondra, Shelbourne got a helping hand in a 2-1 victory over Cabinteely when Oscar Brennan seemingly passed the ball into his own net from way outside the box after it had rolled under 'keeper Michael Kelly's foot - only it didn't seem to cross the line never mind hit the net as emphatically as Boyd's strike against Bohs did.

 Given the narrow margin of the result - James English netted for the ninth time in the First Division this season to double Shels' advantage before Mark Slater halved the deficit with roughly 20 minutes left to play - Cabo can feel aggrieved that such a decision was given against them. On their two prior trips to Tolka Park in the league, they drew 1-1 and 0-0 (with a 5-0 thrashing by the Reds in the EA Sports Cup sandwiched in between).

Do you think it crossed the line? Source: Twitter, @Cabinteely_FC.

 Having not been at the game (I was in Bray), I had no first-hand view on whether the ball did cross the line. Like everybody else, I can only rely on the footage provided by the excellent Cabinteely Twitter account which was a distance away from the action. Shels boss Owen Heary was certainly closer to it than I was, but he wasn't too sure himself (or, naturally enough, preferred not to talk about it).

"I don’t know about the first goal whether it was or it wasn’t," Heary told Extratime.ie's Aaron Gallagher post-match. "But in the second half we stopped doing the basics we had been doing in the first and we let them creep back into the game. At 2-1 it got a little bit nervy but they held on so I was happy enough."

Cabo are running a Twitter poll which at present has 72% of respondents voting that it did not cross the line. FYI, I voted that it did, just because I'm a biased, stubborn Shels fan and want to believe it went in regardless of what anybody else says or shows me (I'm sorry Cabo, feel free to strike my vote from the official tally at the end).

Oscar Brennan scored this cracker against Athlone Town earlier this month. He wouldn't have expected his next goal to be an own goal. Source: Twitter, @Cabinteely_FC.

 I feel for Oscar Brennan in particular as his last goal was an absolute stunner in the 5-1 mauling of Athlone Town at Stradbrook Road at the start of July (a game forever synonymous with Joe Doyle's four-goal haul). If nothing else, this serves as a reminder to how football can kick you in the nuts unexpectedly. 

 Seeing as he's just at the beginning of his own career, Rovers' striker Sean Boyd might do well to take that lesson on board. Though if he continues in the same explosive manner with which he's started, it should be everybody else in the league that's worried about getting kicked in the nuts.
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