FAI Cup third round: St Patrick’s Athletic 2 (Melia 45+5, Forrester 53) Shelbourne 0
Another first for Mason Melia. The teenager broke his FAI Cup duck to ensure that this baking hot evening in Inchicore would not prove his last realistic chance of winning silverware as a Saint.
The League of Ireland title is almost certainly beyond St Patrick’s Athletic as they are 15 points behind Shamrock Rovers with nine games remaining.
Five minutes into first-half injury-time, a Richmond Park regular was berating referee Paul McLaughlin for giving St Pat’s “the advantage” after Sean Gannon fouled Melia. Everyone else was holding their breath as the ball fell to Simon Power, who stood up Milan Mbeng before rewarding the 17-year-old’s run into the Shelbourne box.
The first touch took out two defenders and tempted Lewis Temple to lunge at the ball. When Temple hesitated, Melia curved his finish beyond reserve goalkeeper Lorcan Healy.
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That’s what Irish football will miss when he joins Tottenham Hotspur in January; he only needs two touches to light up a middling game of football.
“I often forget how young Mason is,” said Chris Forrester after sealing the result from a second-half penalty. “He is still just a kid. I like his character. We are privileged just to have him here at the moment. We all know where he is going.”
At 32, Forrester is going nowhere. When fit, he does something that shows he should have played at a higher level than three seasons at Peterborough United in the English third tier.
It occurred after 24 minutes, when the midfielder was sprinting towards his own goal with Harry Wood on his shoulder, as they both watched where Tom Grivosti would head a dropping ball. A soft touch was all Forrester needed to extinguish the danger and send his skipper Joe Redmond moving up the pitch.
If styles make fights, the same can be said of Dublin derbies. With Oasis T-shirts sprinkled among a healthy Sunday crowd, the creative forces largely cancelled each other out.
Time and again, Forrester and Wood found themselves racing for the same ball while St Pat’s wingers, Jake Mulraney and Power, tended to be cancelled out by Mbeng and Evan Caffrey.
John Martin did find the net inside four minutes from Caffrey’s through ball only to be called back for offside.
Shels fashioned the better chances in the first half with Mbeng heading off the crossbar although Mulraney went close from a speculative effort.
Until Melia’s goal, the most remarkable event was Conor Kearns limping off, just weeks after he injured a hamstring, to make way for third-choice goalkeeper Lorcan Healy.
Shelbourne manager Joey O’Brien understandably prioritised Thursday’s Uefa Conference League playoff, first-leg against Linfield at Tolka Park, by keeping recent Dutch signing Wessel Speel on ice as Paddy Barrett, Kerr McInroy, Sean Moore and Mipo Odubeko warmed the bench.
St Pat’s European campaign ended last week in Istanbul, so victory meant more to Stephen Kenny’s team as they seek to salvage silverware from a disappointing second season under the former Republic of Ireland manager.
When Jamie Lennon’s header hit the arm of Kameron Ledwidge early in the second half, Forrester made it 2-0 from the spot.
O’Brien refused to accept the loss, sending on McInroy and Odubeko, but styles really do make Dublin derbies. St Pat’s kept possession and killed the tie to secure their place in Tuesday’s quarter-final draw.
The road to the Aviva Stadium on November 9th opens up for the cup specialists as St Pat’s seek a third win in five seasons.
The only concern was Forrester did not complete the 90 minutes, gingerly departing the scene for Barry Baggley. At least Romal Palmer is inching back from a hamstring injury. If Kenny can get both of his midfielders on the field at the same time, St Pat’s will not need to close the five points between themselves and Derry City for the final European spot.
Also, the team that wins this year’s cup will go directly into the Europa League qualifiers in July 2026.
St Patrick’s Athletic: Anang; McLaughlin (Sjoberg 75), Redmond, Grivosti, McClelland; Lennon, Forrester (Baggley 83); Mulraney (Leavy 69), Kavanagh, Power (Kazeem 75); Melia.
Shelbourne: Kearns (Healy 33); Mbeng, Gannon, Ledwidge, Temple, Caffrey (Norris 46); Coyle (McInroy 56), Lunney (Kelly 68); Wood, Martin (Odubeko 68), Coote.
Referee: Paul McLaughlin.
