Derry City 1 Shelbourne 1
Mipo Odubeko of Shelbourne celebrates scoring Shelbourne’s equaliser with Daniel Kelly. Photo: Sportsfile
Mipo Odubeko’s second-half equaliser was enough to keep Shelbourne’s slim European hopes alive at the Brandywell.
The striker struck early after the break to cancel out Adam O’Reilly’s opener, but neither side had the quality to turn one point into three.
The game didn’t come to life until five minutes before the break when Derry City took the lead in spectacular circumstances. Shelbourne goalkeeper Wessel Speel was completely caught off guard as Dipi Akinyemi’s pass spun into the path of O’Reilly, who got in front of Sam Bone to send a clever chip over the goalkeeper’s head, with the midfielder racing away to celebrate his fourth goal in four games.
That was the spark the game needed as the last five minutes of the first half exploded into life; former City player Daniel Kelly firing over unmarked at the back post after good work from Odubeko.
It took defending of heroic proportions to deny Shelbourne an equaliser shortly afterwards. Odubeko’s overhead pass sent Ali Coote racing away on goal, and although Brian Maher did well to block his first effort, the Shels man collected the rebound and was tapping the ball into the empty net, only for Sam Todd to throw himself at the ball out of nowhere, blocking on the line.
Derry’s lead lasted just 10 minutes into the second half as Shelbourne cut through their defence for a superb equaliser. Kerr McInroy and Kelly combined with a slick one-two in the area, and although Maher did well to save McInroy’s close-range effort, he could do nothing to prevent Odubeko’s follow-up.
Derry City: Maher, O’Reilly, Bannon (Connolly 76), Stoff, Todd, Fleming; (Whyte 64), Diallo; Benson (Dummigan 76), Duffy; Akinyemi (Mullen h-t).
Shelbourne: Speel, Norris, Barrett, Bone, Mbeng; Lunney (Henry-Francis 66), McInroy (Coyle 85), Coote (Boyd 66); Wood, Odubeko (Martin 85), Kelly (Caffrey 76).
Referee: Paul McLaughlin (Donegal)