Published: Wednesday, 14th April, 2010 5:00pm

Athlone still unbeaten at home after draw with Shels

Athlone Town 0 Shelbourne 0

ATHLONE Town maintained their unbeaten home record with a scoreless draw against promotion pretenders Shelbourne at Lissywoollen on Saturday.

On the evidence of this display, and those of previous weeks' too, Athlone are undoubtedly a much tougher proposition for opposing teams this season, with a new-found defensive solidity, and pressing-game, ensuring they do the so-called 'ugly' parts of the game well.

Although they've only managed to find the net three times in six league outings, Town followers will acknowledge their team has made a significant improvement so far this season, and central to this is centre-back Des Hope, who was absolutely outstanding against Shelbourne.

This result was Athlone's third draw of the season, following on from another scoreless draw against Monaghan Utd, while the Town have not yet tasted defeat on home turf, despite now having hosted Cork City and Shelbourne.

And Athlone can also take heart from the fact they took on Shelbourne without regular midfield duo Stephen Caffrey and Gareth Kenna, with youngsters Robbie Benson and Kevin Dunne coming into the side, and the latter, in particular, doing a fine job in their place.

Dunne, playing a deep-lying midfield role, played a key part in breaking up many Shels' attacks, particularly during the first half, before finally, and understandably, tiring somewhat towards the end.

Benson, starting only his second league game of the season due to international commitments with Ireland Schools, showed some good touches, including the pass of the game, a sublimely struck crossfield pass to Richie O'Hanlon in the 36th minute.

Unfortunately, that particular attack amounted to little, and Athlone were guilty of squandering several excellent attacking situations throughout, with striker Robbie Farrell the main culprit, shooting tamely at Shels' 'keeper Dean Delaney when presented with the Town's most glaring opportunity to break the deadlock.

Both Farrell and Kevin Williamson had returned to the starting line-up, and Williamson was involved early on, getting clattered from behind by the poor Ray Scully, who received the game's first yellow card after only two minutes.

Athlone had begun in decent fashion, although Mark Hughes was afforded too much room in the Town box after eight minutes. Fortunately for Athlone, Hughes, on loan from Bohemians, headed straight at the ever-reliable Chris Bennion.

Moments later, Austin Skelly, Eoghan O'Shea and Williamson worked the ball well down the left flank, but Farrell reacted too slowly to Williamson's cross and the Shels defence snuffed out the danger.

Shelbourne, who looked far weaker than last season, slowly found their feet, and were presented with a good chance to score in the 15th minute, when Brian McCarthy gave away a needless free kick on the edge of the box.

David Cassidy, Shels' most creative player, curled a superb effort past Bennion, but the ball rebounded off the crossbar and away to safety.

Skelly's quick free kick from inside the Athlone half then put Robbie Benson into a fine position, but his cross was disappointing with Farrell waiting in the middle. Mark Leech hit a curling effort that Bennion always had covered, before Benson hacked the ball to safety following a dangerous low cross by Colin O'Brien.

Benson, however, was soon caught in possession in a potentially critical position, and Shels' worked the ball to O'Brien in a shooting position. Thankfully for Athlone, O'Brien shot at the near post and wide.

Athlone also had a big scare in the 41st minute. Cassidy delivered a perfect cross to Leech, who was lurking just outside Athlone's penalty box. Leech unleashed a powerful volley that looked destined for the top corner of the net, bit whistled fractionally wide, with Bennion beaten all ends up.

The opening 15 minutes of the second half was quite dull, with little or no goalmouth action to report, until Eoghan O'Shea's 61st minute free kick fell invitingly for O'Hanlon inside Shelbourne's penalty area. O'Hanlon, a player with undoubted skill, but who needs to contribute more, put in a poor cross and the chance evaporated.

O'Hanlon was actually caught dithering in possession inside his own half in the 66th minute, but Des Hope got across to stop the threatening Leech, as the striker threatened to burst through on goal. Hope's overall contribution to Athlone's play was excellent, as he won almost every header that came his way, and led by example from the back.

Leech crossed for Mark Hughes to find the net in the 68th minute but the former was rightly adjudged to have been in an offside position when he latched onto Ray Scully's pass.

Disappointingly, Athlone failed to take full advantage of Shels' apparent weakness in the full-back areas, with O'Hanlon only serving to frustrate on the night, before being replaced by Tom O'Halloran in the 80th minute.

On another night, and with a bit more guile up front, Athlone could have taken victory from this game.

Skelly set up Athlone's most clear-cut chance of the game on 74 minutes, delicately flicking the ball into the path of Farrell, who had got away from his marker. However, the experienced Farrell shot tamely at Delaney, and is still without a goal since joining Athlone.

Shels' made a double switch up front, and Philip Gorman's arrival on the field injected more life into their attack.

Gorman almost scored within two minutes of joining the fray, but could only poke wide after Cassidy's low centre. Up the other end, substitute Noel McGee dug out a brilliant cross to the back post, but O'Hanlon lacked conviction, and Shels' cleared the danger. Gorman was again at the heart of another Shels' attack on 84 minutes, but Des Hope slid in to deny the striker after O'Brien's cross.

Both sides looked relatively satisfied to share the spoils after what was a fairly interesting encounter, until Shels' had a tremendous last gasp opportunity to steal a win.

Eoghan O'Shea's attempted clearance was charged down by midfielder Eric Foley, leaving the Shels' player one on one with Bennion, who stood firm to deny Foley's looping effort.

Foley was then sent off during injury time for a foul on Brian McCarthy, a somewhat harsh red card awarded by Athlone-based referee John McLoughlin.

Athlone Town: Chris Bennion; Mark Nolan, Eoghan O'Shea, Des Hope, Brian McCarthy, Kevin Dunne, Richie O'Hanlon, Robbie Benson, Robbie Farrell, Austin Skelly, Kevin Williamson. Subs: Noel McGee for Farrell (75 mins), Tom O'Halloran for O'Hanlon (80), Stephen Place for Skelly (85).

Shelbourne: Dean Delaney; Ray Scully, Stephen Quigley, Ian Ryan, Gareth Whelan, Paul Shiels, Colin O'Brien, David Cassidy, Mark Hughes, Mark Leech, Eric Foley. Subs: Philip Gorman for Hughes (75 mins), Darren Forsyth for Leech (75).

Referee: John McLoughlin.

Return to: Homepage | Sport Index | This article