Shelbourne claim point at the death against Shamrock Rovers

SSE Airtricity League Premier Division

Shelbourne 1 Shamrock Rovers 1

Shamrock Rovers are the benchmark for Shelbourne’s new billionaire owner Acun Ilicali to eclipse and he came to see for himself the scale of the task he’s set Damien Duff.

The man known as the Turkish Simon Cowell attached a series of lofty ambitions to his recent takeover of the club, primarily reestablishing the Reds as Ireland’s marquee club.

When they last enjoyed that mantle, coming within 45 minutes of reaching the Champions League group stage against Deportivo La Coruña 19 years ago, the dream of the late Ollie Byrne almost cost the club its existence.

Ilicali hasn’t put a timeframe on realising his ambition but himself and his entourage occupying the back two rows of the Tolka Park directors’ box could witness the incumbent they’re aiming to unseat.

Rovers, similar to their Dublin rivals, survived some financial and residency turmoil to reassert their dominance and remain on course to claim a first four-in-a-row of titles since their team of the mid-1980s set the template. Despite a late concession here, they retain a four-point buffer at the summit with nine games left.

They don’t have the glamour and windfall of the European group stages to complement their domestic endeavours that they balanced last year but possess the quality and experience to avoid crises when not at their best.

One well-worked set-piece that exposed Shelbourne’s deficiencies after 20 minutes put them ahead but they were undone at the same goal four minutes into stoppage time.

Gavin Molloy’s downward header was deserving of a Shels fightback engineered by Duff’s willingness to risk for reward in his substitutions.

Next up for Shels is matching Rovers off the