IT HAS been a long time since the Ringsend Derby has been played anywhere near there.
But the pitch at Tolka Park last night was reminiscent of the adjoining suburb of Sandymount.
As a result it was a game of diminishing returns. There were no goals and any chance of one seemed to dry up in the second half.
The Hoops went closest to scoring, hitting the woodwork in the second minute, but they failed to force Conor Kearns into a single save of note.
Leon Pohls was a little busier at the other end but, given his side played out 14 minutes of normal time and six minutes of injury time with 10 men following Shane Farrell’s dismissal, a draw was not the worst result for either side.
Man of the match, Shels defender Paddy Barrett admitted as much. He said: “We’ve been having a tough few weeks with things not going our way but Friday was probably our worst performance of the year.
“It was good to put in a performance in front of our fans that was worthy of a point.
“I think we were the better team to be honest with you until we had a man sent off but you have to realise what we were up against.
“They’re the champions of Ireland, the best team in the country for the last few years. We’ll take the point, move forward and hopefully take three points on Friday.”
Shels went into this game on top of the league but having taken just two points from their previous four games as their early gallop slowed.
And they knew they would be knocked off their perch on goal difference if Rovers were to win.
Tolka Park was the place to be with the FAI’s interim chief executive David Courell and director of football Marc Canham among those in attendance.
And if they are finding a manager hard to come by, there was no shortage of them sitting around them in the directors box with Alan Reynolds of Bohemians, Waterford’s Keith Long and Noel King – as well as Stephen O’Donnell, the man he replaced as Dundalk boss – all present.
There is little prospect of a change in the dugout for either of these two clubs with Stephen Bradley aiming for a record fifth title in a row and Damien Duff re-establishing Shels as a force to be reckoned with.
Duff could not call on the services of Liam Burt under the terms of his loan from Rovers, and was also missing captain Mark Coyle, but Will Jarvis and Matty Smith returned to the team.
Rovers were missing a host of first-team regulars with Jack Byrne, Graham Burke, Gary O’Neill and Neil Farrugia all missing before Markus Poom pulled up in the warm-up with Trevor Clarke taking his place in the starting XI.
He had an early impact, after Dylan Watts played a corner short to him, he whipped in a cross which Roberto Lopes met with an acrobatic header.
It cannoned off the underside of the bar with Richie Towell’s follow-up effort blocked by Gavin Molloy for another corner.
It was a rip-roaring start but it quickly became evident that the pitch was going to have a major impact on the quality of the fare served up.
It was heavily sanded with the ball moving unpredictably.
Shels had their fair share of chances but had an unerring ability to shoot directly at Leon Pohls whenever they were in front of goal.
The only time he had to, literally, extend himself was when Paddy Barrett’s low effort from a Smith free-kick was heading for the bottom corner.
But a Smith shot and a Barrett header before the break were comfortably dealt with by Pohls who also had no difficulty in denying John Martin when he connected with a John O’Sullivan cross within a couple of minutes of the restart.
Rovers had plenty of the ball and got into dangerous positions but they failed to work Conor Kearns.
Both benches were equally aggrieved with Rob Hennessy’s handling of the game with Duff booked for his protests after a foul on Seán Gannon went unpunished.
But the two set of fans did find common cause in the 48th minute two banners reading ‘RIP Stardust 48’ and ’43 Years Late. Justice At Last’ were unveiled in the Riverside Stand.
There was precious little to entertain either set of supporters thereafter although Hennessy had his work cut out as tempers threatened to boil over.
Bradley joined Duff in the referee’s book after a row broke out when Darragh Burns and Lopes tried to listen in to the Shels manager’s pep talk to his players during a break in play.
And whatever instructions Shane Farrell was given when he had been sent on in the 64th minute, presumably they did not include getting himself sent off within 12 minutes of his introduction.
But that is exactly what he did after he was booked for fouls on Josh Honohan and Darragh Nugent. Whatever about the first caution, the second looked harsh.
SUN STAR MAN: Paddy Barrett (Shelbourne)
SHELBOURNE: Kearns 7; Gannon 6, Barrett 7, Molloy 6, Ledwidge,6; O’Sullivan 6, Lunney 7, Wilson 6 (Caffrey 64, 4); Smith 6 (Boyd 74, 5), Martin 6 (Farrell 64, 3), Jarvis 6 (Williams 90,3 )
SHAMROCK ROVERS: Pohls 7; Cleary 6, Lopes 7, Honohan 7; Burns 7, Noonan 6, Watts 6, Clarke 6 (Kavanagh 72, 5); Nugent 6, Towell 7 (Greene 63, 4); Kenny 6 (Gaffney 63, 4).
REFEREE: R Hennessy (Clare) 5