Athlone defence holds firm to claim share of the spoils

A strong defensive performance saw Athlone Town come away with a vital point against promotion hunting Shelbourne in Tolka Park on Friday evening. This result all but guarantees the safety of Brendan Place's side for next season, and though they were helped by a poor penalty miss by David McAllister midway through the second half, it was a point well earned in the end. Nobody gave Athlone much chance of coming away from Tolka Park with anything but a resounding defeat, especially after the previous week's six-goal drubbing at home to Finn Harps. The Town also had to field three inexperienced teenagers in Kevin Dunne, Tom O'Halloran and Kevin Horan, the latter of whom is Athlone's youngest ever player and who was making his first start for Athlone. Shelbourne went into the game just two points adrift of league leaders UCD and, with just three games remaining, this result certainly puts a major dampener on their hopes of clinching automatic promotion. Athlone, meanwhile, are all but assured of another First Division campaign after pulling nine points clear of bottom placed Kildare County, who were convincingly thrashed 6-1 at the weekend by Monaghan Utd. As expected, it was the home side who started the game the brighter of the two sides with Richie Baker and David McGill both showing well on the wings. However, the large Shelbourne support were left stunned briefly when the lively Andrei Georgescu had the ball in the back of Dean Delaney's net, but they were able to breathe a huge sigh of relief when his close-in header was ruled out for offside. The move had started when left-back David O'Connor passed the ball infield to Anthony Hayes, who unleashed a powerful right-footed drive from 30 yards, which was tipped onto the underside of the bar by Delaney before finding its way to Georgescu, who had arrived into the box a fraction early. Even though they escaped unscathed from this, it was a reminder to Shels that Athlone weren't just there to make up the numbers, and had real designs on taking points off the title-chasing Drumcondra outfit. Athlone would show good flashes of play for the remainder of the half (mainly when breaking from deep), but in general Shelbourne enjoyed the majority of possession and had a number of opportunities just after the disallowed goal with a couple of chances by David Cassidy and Michael Synnott being narrowly missed. This dominance would continue, but Athlone were still more than holding their own, and Shels were finding it difficult to break down the Town's resistance. Nevertheless, Kevin Dunne had to be extremely alert on 26 minutes to clear a McAllister shot off the line, and McAllister and the always-dangerous Richie Baker had good chances saved by Barry Andrews when it looked like he might be beaten at his near post. It was looking ever more likely that Shelbourne would eventually break Athlone down, but the visitors managed to hold out until the break, which was always going to be important if they were to avoid defeat. At the start of the second period, the momentum was still with Shelbourne and they had two narrow misses from headers by Alan Keely and David Cassidy inside the opening ten minutes. It seemed that their patience had been rewarded on 66 minutes when referee Jim McKell pointed to the spot after Athlone substitute Robbie Hamm - on for Niall O'Reilly at the break - fouled Robbie Hedderman inside the box, but McAllister's effort was blazed high over the bar and Athlone were still in the tie. The initial reaction to the penalty miss was good by Athlone, as the likes of Hayes, Des Hope and Mark Salmon were all strong in the tackle and were giving very little space to the Dubliners whenever they received the ball in the final-third. From a Shels point of view, it seemed like McAllister's miss had taken the sting out of the momentum that they built up, which meant that it was going to take something special for them to finally make the breakthrough. As was to be anticipated, Shels kept at it, and persisted as much as they could in trying to get that elusive goal, but when McAllister had two more shots on goal in the 72nd and 81st minutes, he found that Andrews was in imperious form, as he kept out both efforts quite comfortably. These were to be the last meaningful attempts that Shelbourne were to have on the Athlone goal, as the Town put in a terrific display of defensive steel to close out the game and ensure that Shelbourne suffered a serious dent to their title hopes. Next up for Athlone are two tough home matches against Monaghan Utd and current table-toppers UCD, as they look to finish an often difficult season on a high. Shelbourne: Dean Delaney; Michael Synnott, Alan Keely, Damien Brennan, Robbie Hedderan; David McGill, Mark O'Brien, David Cassidy, Richie Baker; Tony Griffiths, David McAllister. Subs: Derek Doyle for Griffiths (58 mins); Colin O'Brien for Baker (64); David Crawley for Keely (70). Athlone Town: Barry Andrews; Niall O'Reilly, Kevin Dunne, Des Hope, David O'Connor; Franco Georgescu, Mark Salmon, Anthony Hayes, Tom O'Halloran, Kevin Horan, Austin Skelly. Subs: Robbie Benson for Skelly (29 mins); Robbie Hamm for O'Reilly (HT), Kevin Williamson for O'Halloran (77). Referee: Jim McKell.