Derry City end winless run to inflict more pain on struggling Shelbourne

Five goal thrillers and late winners have been staples on the Tolka Park menu this season

DIPO'S DERRY DELIGHT: Dipo Akinyemi of Derry City scores his side's second goal. Pic: Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile.

SHELBOURNE 1 (John Martin 50)

DERRY CITY 2 (Barry Cotter 20, Dipo Akinyemi 68)

If you’re seeking League of Ireland entertainment this season, Tolka Park is the place to visit.

Even the sole scoreless draw against Bohemians was ignited by a pre-match flare-up between the pair of management teams.

Otherwise, five goal thrillers and late winners have been staples on the Tolka menu.

Unfortunately for hosts Shelbourne, however, failure to win any of their six home matches has removed the joy that others have luxuriated in.

This latest setback leaves the 2024 champions already a dozen points adrift of the team their crown was relinquished to, Shamrock Rovers, languishing in seventh.

After last year’s strides of reaching the Conference League group stages, the plan was for Joey O’Brien to regain their title ambitions. Acquisitions such as Will Jarvis were funded with the intention of challenging the likes of Rovers and Derry City.

Jarvis did make an impact after coming on at the break, providing a spark in a period that saw John Martin cancel out Derry’s first half opener from Barry Cotter.

It seemed at that stage they were the team in the ascendancy, rattling the visiting defence by attacking in numbers, but once again defensive frailties cost them.

They were unable to produce the late Tolka goals that St Patrick’s Athletic and Dundalk plundered in recent weeks to claim victories.

Derry won’t mind that they pinched the win against the run of play.

This result snapped a seven-game winless run, lifting the pressure manager Tiernan Lynch was facing for underperforming in the context of the riches supplied by billionaire owner Philip O’Doherty.

Shelbourne’s bright start suggested this would be another miserable night for the Foylesiders.

Captain Paddy Barrett, back from injury, should have tested Ed Beach with a header from a fourth minute corner while Harry Wood’s free-kick from 20 yards deflected out for a corner.

Brandon Fleming broke the flow on 19 minutes with a left foot shot that flashed wide.

Referee Aaron O’Dowd spotted a deflection and from the corner Barry Cotter connected brilliantly with the loose ball to volley his first goal for the club inside Wessel Speel’s near post.

Stung by the concession, the hosts applied pressure, with Martin glancing a header wide and an audacious scissor-kick volley from Kerr McInroy off from corner whizzing over.

Jarvis added another dimension to their attack and bore fruit five minutes in with McInroy feeding Kameron Ledwidge on the left. His curling cross carried the perfect weight for Martin to arrive with a cushioned side-footed volley that gave Beach no chance.

Ledwidge would have a forgettable role in the next goal, but his team did enough to have gone ahead themselves. Defender Sam Bone was furious at himself for stabbing wide from a corner while Martin, latching into Evan Caffrey’s right-wing centre, drew a brilliant save from Beach.

Lynch’s multitude of substitutions didn’t have the desired effect of lifting the stampede until he introduced Dip0 Akinyemi.

The tall journeyman was only seconds on the pitch when he profited from Ledwidge’s failing to clear properly. When one sub, Cameron Dummigan, charged down the ball, it spun directly into the path of another and Akinyemi produced a clinical volley high across Speel into the far corner.

While O’Brien and his staff appealed for offside, the home crowd were stunned and together they couldn’t muster a second leveller.

The closest they came was right at the death, in the eight minute of stoppage time, when Wood’s free kick on the edge of the box was squared for Barrett.

He wrapped his foot around the ball, but Beach was equal to the low drive, completing the fun ahead for the away side before a long trip home.

Next week's visit of the champions to the temporary home of Celtic Park has all of a sudden taken on a different purpose.

SHELBOURNE: W Speel; E Caffrey (S Gannon 75), S Bone, P Barrett, K Ledwidge; JJ Lunney, K McInroy (A Coote 70); J Henry-Francis (R Frietas 75), H Wood, D Kelly (W Jarvis 46); J Martin (S Boyd 81).

DERRY CITY: E Beach; C Barr, J Stott, P McClean; B Cotter (H Rylah 75), A O’Reilly (C Dummigan 60), C Winchester, B Doherty (J Olayinka 60), B Fleming; J Clarke (D Markey 60), J Thomas (D Akinyemi 67).

Referee: Aaron O’Dowd (Dublin).

Attendance: 3,624.