Super Shels scale summit
That’s Deportivo, Champions League semi-finalists, replete with stars like Jorge Andrade and Walter Pandiani. Diego Tristan and Juan Fran might have been absent but the Spanish defence was being marshalled by Andrade, the purists’ footballer of Euro 2004, their attack featured the unpredictable skills of Valeron and Pandiani. And yet, Shelbourne held them scoreless.
More than that, Shelbourne controlled the game. For a long time, it looked like the night could be even more special, more sensational than the most starry-eyed Shelbourne dreamer could imagine. Every time, Wesley Hoolihan touched the ball, with each crunching Owen Heary tackle, you could feel there was something in the soft mist around the stadium.
Quality doesn’t always supersede effort. Shelbourne proved that. With the vociferous 24,000 imploring the team forward with each vocal strain, with Deportivo slightly unnerved by this Irish side refusing to bow before their reputations, it was possible to believe this could be the most special of footballing nights.
Deportivo didn’t seem to be in the mood to pinch each of the supporters, or the nation watching on TV. . Briefly, as the second-half started with Javier Irureta’s words still ringing in their ears, Deportivo discovered the stomach for this battle.
Victor Sanchez slid a beautiful ball into Alberto Luque, but the £15 million-rated forward sliced the ball wide. Two minutes later Pandiani, the famed Uruguayan, broke free from Shelbourne shackles only for Heary to time yet another tackle perfectly.
The atmosphere, electric since long before kick-off, never let up and as the second-half wore on, Lansdowne Road thought they might witness something incredible.
And as the game neared its climax, Shelbourne could have taken a deserved victory. Joseph Ndo’s introduction provided the impetus for a couple more onslaughts, Hoolihan was caught in a Spanish sandwich with four minutes to go. Had the delivery from the free-kick been better, Shelbourne might have been celebrating an astonishing victory.
They were the better side. They had outplayed one of the best sides in Europe. They deserve all the plaudits they will get over the next few days.
Hoolihan was a menace all night and Deportivo seemed generally perplexed as to how to handle the skilful Irish U21 international.
Shels were meant to be all huff and puff, weren’t they? When did ability enter the mix.
As early as the first minute, when Ollie Cahill robbed a ball in midfield and Shelbourne broke. A world of possibilities opened up. A minute later, Glen Fitzpatrick’s cross caused serious consternation between Deportivo keeper Jose Molina and his centre-half Romero.
The first-half continued in that vein. Hoolihan was pulling strings and Shelbourne were starting to settle. And there was no frenetic football. Shels were patient in their build-up, probing to find a way to unlock a defence marshalled by Andrade.
This was not a night for respecting reputations, it was a night for Shelbourne to earn respect for domestic soccer. Alberto Luque has terrorised the best defences in Europe on the left touch-line. In the 26th minute, when he received the ball in that position, Jamie Harris timed his sliding tackle perfectly.
Thirty seconds later, Hoolihan robbed Sergio Gonzalez with a tackle of similar timing, frustrating the Spaniard so much that he got booked for a tug on the Shels star. It was a frustrating evening for Deportivo, evident by Pandiani’s yellow card for petulance in the second-half.
The game wore on, and remained scoreless. Fitzpatrick was called ashore in the 62nd minute for the selfless running of Ndo. Supporters greeted the change with a cheer, and Ndo soon made his presence felt. One beautiful chipped pass into Alan Moore needed all the experienced game-reading of Cesar Martin to deny the midfielder a gilt-edged chance.
But Shelbourne were growing in confidence, blossoming under the lights of Lansdowne. Cahill found space down the wing, as he had discovered all evening, nestled the ball into Hoolihan’s path. The tricky midfielder placed a ball perfectly on Moore’s head, and only Munua’s finger-tips denied a sensational goal with 11 minutes to go.
Deportivo had their moments, as you would expect from Champions League semi-finalists. Sergio Gonzalez bossed midfield for a period in the second-half, but was soon called to the bench as his yellow card weighed on Irureta’s mind.
Steve Williams had very little to do, except kick the ball out. The Shelbourne players believed this was their evening, particularly when Aldo Duscher, an old friend of David Beckham’s, had to leave the pitch on a stretcher. Deportivo, having already used their full complement of substitutions, were briefly down to ten men.
It was the type of sub-plot that enriched this story.
Could Shelbourne score? Ndo was brave and unselfish in his running and as the seconds ticked by, it was the Dublin club stringing passes together, neatly playing one-twos, showing off their technique.
It summed up a special night perfectly. A hundred and eight years ago, when a group of men formed a football club not two miles away from Lansdowne Road, they could never have imagined that football club would one day take on one of the mightiest sides in Europe. And almost beat them.
: Williams; Heary (c), Rogers, Harris, Crawley; Cahill, Moore, S Byrne, Hoolihan, J Byrne; Fitzpatrick (Ndo 62 mins).
: Molina(Munua 41 mins); Garcia, Andrade, Martin, Romero; Luque (Muntis 79 mins), Da Silva (capt), Gonzalez, Sanchez (Duscher 66 mins), Valeron, Pandiani.
: M Benes (Czech Republic)
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
