Blues - Waterford United FC Programme v Shelbourne Friday 9th May 2014 | Page 7

Welcome to Shelbourne
This evening’s visitors to the RSC

KEY PLAYER: ADAM O’CONNOR
Shelbourne’s excellent start to the
campaign has been built as much upon
tight defence as impressive attack.
The Tolka rearguard has already
developed a settled look, remaining
unchanged for the last half dozen
games, and their unfeasibly youthful
centre back pairing, both still only 19,
have been earning plaudits all season, with the composure
and class of Adam O’Connor, the senior partner by three
months, surely the standout. Signed from St Pat’s in May 2012
after a fine debut season at U19, he captained Shels’ 19s
to runners-up spots in League and Cup the next year, and
impressed in five first team Premier appearances at the tail
end of last season, nailing down a starting berth this year
ahead of more established and experienced team-mates.
ONE TO WATCH: DYLAN CONNOLLY
A shining light in the Shels attack,
Dylan Connolly has lit up Division One
thus far with a string of eyecatching
performances, and five league goals,
including one against ourselves in the
3-3 draw at Tolka, a late, late smashand-grab winner in Galway, and
what proved the decisive third against
Longford last weekend. Beginning his league career across
the Royal Canal with Bohemians’ U19 and senior sides, he
switched to the Reds’ 19s in February of last year, adding
five first team appearances from August, and has started all
nine league games this season. With blistering pace allied to
a tremendous work ethic, the young midfielder, who only turns
19 at the end of the month, has become a real fans favourite,
and is surely destined for bigger things.

www.waterford-united.ie

LEGEND: STEPHEN GEOGHEGAN
There’ve been many Shelbourne
greats over their long history, from Val
Harris to Eric Barber, Gary Haylock to
Mark Rutherford, but the goalscoring
exploits of Stephen Geoghegan surely
place him amongst them. Already a
prolific goalscorer with Drogheda and
Shamrock Rovers when he was signed
in 1994 by Eamon Gregg (his 23 goals had just won the
league for the Hoops), the striker with one of the best known
‘taches in football went on to spend 10 seasons at Tolka Park,
scoring 109 league goals, finishing top scorer three seasons
running from 1996 to ’98. He scored in the 1996 and ‘97 FAI
Cup final wins, and won it again in 2000, Shelbourne’s double
winning season. Further league titles followed in 2001/02
and 2003, when he called time on a incredible decade, going
on to play one further season with Dundalk. He currently
manages O’Devaney Dunard FC in the AUL Premier.
GOLDEN ERA: 2000-2006
In a history including a quarter century
in the Irish League before ever Shels
became founder members of the
League of Ireland, there are bound to
be several high water marks. An early
purple patch saw three titles in six
seasons from 1926 to ’31, and under
Gerry Doyle two FAI Cups and another
League crown were lifted in the early ‘60s, but Icarus himself
would be proud of the story of the noughties. A resurgent
Shelbourne under Dermot Keely won the League twice in
three years, 1999/00 & ‘01/’02, and Pat Fenlon picked up
the baton with back-to-back titles in 2003 & ‘04 and another
in 2006. Historic European results followed, including the first
Irish away win for 18 years in 2000 (against Macedonia’s FK
Sloga), and the first ever Champions League 3rd round tie
in 2004 against Deportivo, but success came at a grievous
cost, and with debts almost forcing the club out of existence
in 2007 the Reds pulled out of Europe and the Setanta Cup
and were demoted to Division One.

Head To Head

THE GAFFER: JOHNNY McDONNELL
Reds boss Johnny McDonnell needs
little introduction to fans of Irish
football. Whether as a pundit on
RTE’s MNS show, a player with a
career that has spanned 16 years –
most famously with St Pat’s where he
won the League in each of his two
spells, or as a manager, Johnny Mac
remains a hugely popular figure in domestic soccer circles.
Most famously he was assistant to Brian Kerr in charge of the
Faroe Islands in 2010/11, but his managerial high point came
in the Inchicore hotseat, when he guided the Saints to the first
round proper of the UEFA Cup in 2008, beating Olimps Riga
and Elfsborg of Sweden. He took over an already doomedlooking Shels in May of last year, and despite steadying the
ship could not quite stave off relegation. This season, though,
his young side have stormed Division One, playing a fast and
flowing brand of football that has them already four points
clear at the top.

LEAGUE GAMES PLAYED - 140
Won 51, Drawn 32, Lost 57
Scored 236, Conceded 237
BIGGEST WIN
8:2 – 1936/37 Kilcohan
BIGGEST DEFEAT
0:6 – 1992/93 Tolka Park
LAST SIX GAMES
Shels 3-3 Blues – 21st Mar 2014
Blues 1-0 Shels – 8th Oct 2011
Shels 2-1 Blues – 8th Jul 2011
Blues 0-1 Shels – 21st Apr 2011
Shels 1-2 Blues – 30th Oct 2010
Blues 0-3 Shels – 6th Aug 2010

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