St Pat's march past Shelbourne into FAI Cup quarter-finals 

MARCHING ON: ST Pat's Chris Forrester, centre, celebrates  after scoring their side's second goal. Pic: Seb Daly/Sportsfile

FAI Cup: St Patrick's Athletic 2 (Melia 45+4', Forrester 53' (P)) Shelbourne 0

2023 FAI Cup winners St. Pats safely booked their place in the FAI Cup quarter final, overcoming Shelbourne.

A stunning Mason Melia finish and a coolly taken Chris Forrester penalty proved enough for Stephen Kenny’s charges as the Saints went marching on.

Prior to kick-off, both sets of players and fans witnessed the likes of Derry City and Bohemians exit at the same stage over the weekend and judging by the riproaring start, didn't want to follow suit and knew this would be their only chance of silverware.

In the blistering heat of Dublin 8 the visitors, who have one last tantalising bite of the cherry to get group stage football in Europe on Thursday night against the now familiar Linfield, could have been forgiven for maybe having one eye on that incredible opportunity but it most definitely wasn't the case as they had the ball in the back of the net within three minutes.

Ali Coote clipped a lovely weighted ball in behind the Saints back line for John Martin who finished clinically only to see the flag go up for a marginal offside.

Having rested a host of first team players in their trip to Istanbul during the week, in which his side put in a spirited performance against Turkish giants Besiktas coming away with a narrow 3-2 loss having been two up, Stephen Kenny brought back all the big hitters - naming seven changes for their season-defining clash and had the raucous home fans on their feet when the exciting Simon Power’s whipped cross narrowly missed the far post.

In one of the most breathless openings to a game all season, the champions flew straight down the other end and were left wondering how they weren’t in front.

Firstly, former Cork City man Milan Mbeng saw his towering header smack off the crossbar and away to safety, and in the same move JJ Lunney then clipped a delightful ball onto the head of the unmarked Martin but he couldn't hit the target from just 12-yards out.

There were huge calls for a penalty from the home side when Power’s deflected cross seemed to spin up awkwardly and catch Shels skipper Mark Coyle on the arm but referee Paul McLoughlin waved away the vociferous protests.

Just after the half hour mark, Shels were forced into a change when Conor Kearns return from injury was brought to an abrupt end having dived to collect a headed backpass.

The home side began to settle into their rhythm and enjoyed large spells of possession forcing Shels into a back five at times with Jake Mulraney looking threatening but frustratingly lacking that final ball or shot on target having done all the hard work.

And on the stroke of halftime Pat’s, who hadn’t beaten the Reds this season - got the goal their dominance deserved through the million pound man Mason Melia.

The Tottenham bound teenager collected Simon Powers square ball just outside the area and, with an outstanding first touch, pushed the ball forward between two Shels players and burst into the area. His second touch was even better as he swept the ball past substitute keeper Lorcan Healy without breaking stride to bag his 11th of the season.

Former Irish international Joey O’Brien responded with two further subs after the break introducing Kerr McInroy and James Norris to give his side a slightly more attacking look.

But just six minutes after the restart it was the hosts who earned a huge chance to double their lead when Kameron Ledwidge was adjudged to have blocked Jamie Lennon’s downward header with his arm.

The enigmatic Chris Forrester took charge of the situation and made no mistake sending Healy the wrong way from 12-yards to send the home fans wild.

With nothing to lose, Shels threw bodies forward in the desperate hope of setting up a grand stand finish. Harry Wood saw a 20-yard strike sail just over before the visitors spurned two glorious one-on-one chances to half the deficit.

With a quarter of an hour remaining Daniel Kelly broke the offside trap, latching onto a clever ball over the top but was quickly smothered by Joseph Anang as he tried to slip the ball under the onrushing keeper, and second later fellow substitute Mipo Odubeko found himself facing up to the Ghanaian stopper but managed to poke the ball past the 25-year old but also inches wide of the far post.

To their credit the home side showed great composure to see out the remaining minutes, to safely, and deservedly, put their name in the hat for the quarter final.

St. Patrick’s Athletic: J Anang; R McLoughlin (C Axel Sjoberg, 75’), J Redmond, T Grivosti, J McClelland; C Forrester (B Baggley, 83’), J Lennon, B Kavanagh; J Mulraney (Kian Leavy, 68’), S Power (Al-Amin Kazeem, 75’), M Melia 

Subs not used: D Rogers, C Carty, J Garrick, L Turner, B Hayes 

Shelbourne: C Kearns (L Healy, 33’); S Gannon, L Temple, K Ledwidge; M Mbeng, A Coote, JJ Lunney (M Odubeko, 68’), M Coyle (K McInroy, 46’), E Caffrey (J Norris, 46’); H Wood, J Martin (D Kelly, 68’) 

Subs not used: E Chapman, S Bone, S Moore, P Barrett 

Referee: P McLoughlin