Athlone Sink In Shels
Friday 24th June 2011. Airtricity League Division 1.
Shelbourne 2-0 Athlone Town. Tolka Park.
Another torrential rain soaked day in Dublin saw Athlone slip to a 2-0 defeat at the hands of table toppers Shelbourne at Tolka Park.
With a suspicion of off-side, Shels took the lead inside the opening 20 minutes when Kevin Dawson fired home from close range after Conan Byrne played the ball past Town keeper Michéal Schlingermann.
The rest of the half played out with Shelbourne constantly attacking along the right wing and Athlone just about dealing with the barage.
The second half was a bit more optimistic for Athlone, not that they created much but they appeared a more even match for Shels. As with the previous week the introduction of Mark Sherlock up front gave Town a boost as he put himself about, being a thorn in the side of the home defence.
Half way through the second half though Shels kicked into action and when Chris Mulhall found himself with the ball at his feet and the Town defence caught like statues he ran goalwards until Schlingermann slid out and took him down inside the penalty box. Philly Hughes made no nmistake from the spot to double Shelbournes advantage to maintain their lead at the table summit.
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Shels keeper Dean Delaney saves at the feet of Noel McGee
AC Sports Images 