Dominant Shelbourne salvage a point

Having almost stolen the points in Richmond Park a week ago, Derry City seemed to have committed a first act larceny in their second outing of the new campaign. A game in which they were under pressure for 80 of the 90 minutes looked to have been decided in the other 10 at the Brandywell yesterday with Liam Coyle and Peter Hutton scoring just before the end of the first half.

In the end, though, it was the Dubliners who nicked something from a cracking match. Pat Scully getting his second of the game in the third minute of added time to the considerable displeasure of the local support who felt, with some justification, that Tony O'Dowd had been prevented from attempting to clear the ball as it bounced around the box in front of him.

"In the game as a whole Shelbourne were the better team," sighed Felix Healy afterwards "but to lose it like that in the third minute of injury time, well, the less said about it the better."

It will, he concluded, all even itself out over the course of the campaign, a phenomenon which Shelbourne have already experienced this season having felt themselves to have been hard done by in the 93rd minute of their first game against Kilmarnock.

Yesterday, though, there could be no doubt that the late goal was, the obstruction of O'Dowd notwithstanding, a matter of justice being done. Over the course of the game the visitors had created the vast bulk of the chances and, when Mark Rutherford had been sandwiched between Sean Hargan and Eamon Doherty in the 13th minute, they had been denied what looked to be a perfectly good penalty claim.

Rutherford, in fact, along with Pascal Vaudequin on the right had run the City defence ragged during the opening half an hour with both involved in creating a string of good chances and the Frenchman, playing against his old club, going closest to opening the scoring when he skimmed the outside of the post with a low drive from the edge of the area.

There were other chances for the Dubliners but despite some desperately shakey defending by the locals all were squandered and so it was not until Liam Coyle decided, in then 34th minute, to give a lesson on how these things should be done that the deadlock was finally broken.

Dave Smith gave the ball away in midfield to set the home side on their way but after Sean Hargan had initially carried the ball forward Coyle took over the move and after his first shot had been well blocked by stand in goalkeeper Stephen O'Brien the former international recovered superbly to slot in the rebound from a long way out on the right.

On the stroke of half time the locals doubled their lead when Peter Hutton made the most of Doherty and Gary Beckett's good work to score from close range but Scully pulled one back for the Cup holders 12 minutes after the restart when he met Sheridan's free from the right at the far post and picked his spot to perfection.

On another day City would surely have held out for the win but neither of these sides could beat the other in three league meetings last year and Shelbourne always looked likely to extend the trend in this game. Stephen Geoghegan should have bagged the required goal with 11 minutes to play when he fluffed an attempted header but the significance of the miss receded when Scully's late effort did the trick for Dubliners.

Derry City: O'Dowd; Doherty, Curran, Dykes, Brunton; Hargan, Heggarty, Hutton, Keddy; Coyle, Beckett. Substitutes: R Coyle for Hargan (69 mins), Semple for Coyle (78 mins)

Shelbourne: O'Brien; Smith, Scully, Neville, Geoghegan; Vaudequin, Fenlon, Campbell, Rutherford; Sheridan; Baker. Substitute: McCarthy and S Geoghegan for Neville and Smith (73 mins).

Referee: G Perry (Dublin).