The League of Ireland season was whittled down to a battle for fourth place in the Premier Division as Bohemians outlasted St Patrick’s Athletic with a 4-1 defeat of Drogheda United on Saturday evening.
To secure a place in the Uefa Conference League, Bohemians still need Shamrock Rovers to complete the double by beating Cork City in the FAI Cup final at the Aviva Stadium on Sunday.
If Ger Nash can engineer a victory over Rovers, Cork City will enter the Europa League next summer despite being relegated to the First Division.
If Rovers prevail, Derry City get the Europa League route with Shelbourne and Bohemians representing Irish football in the Conference League.
RM Block
Before all that comes the fallout. The result in Drogheda prompted Bohs manager Alan Reynolds to give his club’s more abusive fans a piece of his mind.
“Some of the stuff that’s going on is ridiculous,” Reynolds told Off The Ball. “You know, from the get-go, they’re on the players’ back. That’s possibly because of me. I’m not going to win them all over. And to be honest, I don’t give a f**k if I win them all over. All I want to do is be successful here and get ready for next year.”
James Clarke’s two first-half goals at United Park heaped the pressure on St Pat’s to beat Shelbourne at Tolka Park, but Stephen Kenny’s side never looked capable of overcoming the 2024 champions in front of a 5,417 crowd.
St Pat’s finished the campaign with the best defensive record in the league, only conceding 32 goals, but they fell short of sending Mason Melia to Tottenham Hotspur with his 14th goal of the season. Had he netted, the 18-year-old would have finished joint top scorer in the Premier Division alongside Waterford’s 37-year-old centre forward Pádraig Amond.
Shelbourne veterans Paddy Barrett and Kerr McInroy were particularly focused on denying Melia a memorable farewell.
For Shels, under the steady hand of Joey O’Brien, it has been a ground-breaking year to reach the Conference League group phase after Damien Duff’s sudden resignation in late June. They salvaged a faltering league campaign to finish third, four points behind Derry City and seven adrift of Shamrock Rovers.
A monetary figure can be put on how all this shakes out. Rovers have banked over €10 million from European football over the last two years and O’Brien can talk about strengthening the Shels squad as this season they have earned €4 million, and counting, in Uefa prize money.
“The aim next year is to win the title back,” said O’Brien. “I think our squad is in a real good position. The lads that we recruited, the age, the potential, there are a lot of pluses and not too many lads that are going to leave.
“But there is an opportunity to bring in players and I think we need to do that to keep constantly evolving and close the gap.
“The amount of chances we missed [against St Pat’s],” he added. “I think that’s been there all season.”
The last comment indicated Shelbourne intend to recruit a 15 goal-a-season man in the January transfer window, but O’Brien countered: “I think we have them. Mipo [Odubeko] comes on and he can do unbelievable things. It’s about just making sure we’re getting more out of him because he has huge potential.
“John Martin has been brilliant. Seán Boyd has obviously been injured but I think we have options up there.”
Harry Wood pressed his candidacy for Footballer of the Year as Shels’ top scorer with nine league goals from midfield.
Odubeko has scored 12 in all competitions. There are four European fixtures in which the former Republic of Ireland under-21 international can underline his goalscoring credentials. Those games include a trip to Troy Parrott’s AZ Alkmaar on November 27th and the visit of Crystal Palace to Tallaght on December 11th.
For St Pat’s and Kenny, a winter of rumination has arrived.
“We’ve got to reflect on how we play and look at all aspects,” said the former Ireland manager.
“I’ve qualified for Europe in every season of my career. I’m hugely disappointed with that. We’ve no divine right to do it because all the other teams are ambitious and they’ve all got good resources as well. Some more so.
“At the start of the year, the thinking was I would build the team around Romal Palmer and he’s been out for the whole season. We do have to replace Mason of course.”
Melia is away to London and Sligo Rovers’ Owen Elding is expected to follow his fellow teenager to England. Elding has been sensational for Sligo, scoring 16 goals in all competitions. His exploits prompted the FAI to nudge the English-born attacker towards an Irish passport so he can be added to Jim Crawford’s Ireland under-21 panel.
Elding delivered at the finish, scoring a penalty to beat Shamrock Rovers 2-1 in Tallaght. The victory eased Sligo clear of next Friday’s relegation/promotion playoff, which will be contested between Waterford and Bray Wanderers.
Bray secured their spot in that match by beating Treaty United 1-0 in Sunday’s First Division playoff final at Lissywollen. Justin Ferizaj’s stunning 90th-minute winner was a goal worthy of the prize it unlocked.
