Shels forced to dig in after Cronin red

Shelbourne showed their mettle to dig out a point with 10 men in a rousing Dublin derby at Tolka Park.

Sat, 31 Mar, 2012 - 01:00

Shelbourne 1 St Patrick’s Athletic 1 Paul Buttner

Alan Mathews’ side had to play for almost half an hour with a man down after Glenn Cronin was given a straight red card. But while St Patrick’s outpassed their hosts much of the time, they again struggled in front of goal, dropping two points for the third week running.

Shelbourne took the lead on 22 minutes as Brendan McGill’s dipping volley hit the crossbar and bounced in off the back of unfortunate Pat’s keeper Brendan Clarke

Chris Forrester helped the home side get back on even terms just before the break when his flick was poked in by Christy Fagan.

With the home side forced onto the back foot after Cronin’s dismissal for a lunge on John Russell, Pat’s looked most likely. Shels, however, dug in and held on.

SHELBOURNE: Skinner; Shortall, Paisley, Ryan, Byrne; Cronin, Cassidy, Hurley (Dawson 46); Kavanagh, Hughes (Gorman 90), B McGill (Murphy 71).

ST PATRICK’S ATHLETIC: Clarke; O’Brien, Kenna, Browne, Bermingham; Russell, Chambers, Bolger; Forrester, Fagan, O’Connor (J Kelly 62).

Referee: Alan Kelly (Cork).