O'Brien off to a winning start as Shels defeat 10-man Cork City

Irish Examiner

04-07-2025

SSE Airtricity Premier Division: Shelbourne 3 (Wood 2', Odubeko 6', Lunney 83') Cork City 1 (Nelson 42')
The Joey O'Brien era got off to a winning start as his Reds side earned their first win in four as opposing number Ger Nash's desperate search for his first three points rumbled on.
Shels lightening start to the game with two goals in the opening six minutes set the hosts on their way, before Kitt Nelson pulled one back before the break. Charlie Lyons then saw red after the restart as JJ Lunney struck late on to seal all three points late on over 10-man City. With two draws in their last two games, the reigning Champions got off to a flyer when Wood reacted sharply to intercept City's skipper Charlie Lyons' attempted pass out to Matthew Kiernan. The Englishman looked the coolest customer in Drumcondra as he clipped the ball over the helpless Conor Brann.
The Leesiders, had travelled to Dublin with a slight sense of optimism having been busy in the recently opened transfer window bringing in four players.
Former Drogheda United and St. Patrick's Athletic stopper David Odumosu just missed the registration deadline but another with League of Ireland experience Rory Feely, the towering Fiacre Kelleher and exciting looking attacker Charlie Lutz - on-loan from Aston Villa - all went straight into the matchday squad starting from the bench.
But the hope quickly faded as the hosts' dream start continued, grabbing their second just four minutes later.
Following a free-flowing move across the pitch, Wood turned provider getting down the right before cleverly squaring to find Mipo Odubeko who smashed home his sixth of the season with just six minutes on the clock.
The physical presence of the departed top scorer Djenairo Daniels looked to be taking its toll with Seani Maguire becoming isolated as the Reds one-way traffic continued.
In a microcosm of his season Odubeko spurned a glorious chance to make it three, again taking advantage of slack play at the back by the visitors. The enigmatic front man then dragged his left footed strike wide as he bore down on goal.
To their credit the visitors kept plugging away and went close when Greg Bolger almost caught Conor Kearns off his line from deep. Growing in confidence they went agonisingly close to halving the deficit as Freddie Andersons looping back post header from an outswinging corner narrowly missed the target.
And on the stroke of half-time City finally took advantage of Shels set piece deficiencies as Kitt Nelson struck beautifully into the bottom corner after Anderson kept the ball alive at the back post once again.
All the visitors' hard work to get themselves a footing in the game was undone five minutes into the restart when skipper Lyons was shown a straight red card for a lunge on Mark Coyle.
With the man advantage, O'Brien went to two up top as Sean Boyd partnered Odubeko looking to put the game beyond the battling visitors' reach. But it was fellow sub Daniel Kelly who looked most threatening and almost made an immediate impact, racing behind Kiernan but the final ball towards the waiting Mipo was well smothered by Brann.
The hosts continued to probe but the impressive Kelleher looked solid clearing everything that came his way. Man-of-match Wood looked dangerous every time he picked up the ball in the final third. His pinpoint cross from the right found James Norris free at the back post but the on-loan Liverpool man saw his first time effort trickle past the post.
Lunney then made sure of all three points when his cross from the right wing evaded everyone and crept in at the back post to make the last few minutes a little more enjoyable for the home fans.
Shelbourne: Kearns; Coyle, Barrett, Ledwidge, Caffrey (Kelly, 60'), McInroy (Boyd, 60'), Lunney, Norris; Coote (Chapman, 60'), Wood (O'Sullivan, 79'), Odubeko (Martin, 71')
Subs not used: Healy, Wilson, Bone, Temple
Cork City: Brann; Mbeng, Lyons, Anderson (Lutz, 76'), Kiernan; Bolger, Murray (McLaughlin, 46'); Nolan (Kelleher, 56'), Crowley, Nelson (O'Sullivan, 56'); Maguire (Dijksteel, 45')
Subs not used: Moloney, Nevin, Fitzpatrick, Feely
Referee: R Harvey (Dublin)