JOEY O’BRIEN WAS left exasperated by what he described as schoolboy defending from his Shelbourne players in a 3-2 defeat to Shamrock Rovers this evening.

The Reds boss said his side were passive and that it was unacceptable how they defended after taking a deserved 1-0 lead at Tallaght Stadium.

Ali Coote put Shels ahead on 31 minutes but the concession of two goals in two minutes before half-time swung the game in Rovers’ favour.

The first was a free-kick from Jack Byrne which Pico Lopes tapped home unmarked at the back post, while the second came after a hopeful clearance forward was misjudged by centre back Zeno Ibsen Rossi and allowed Michael Noonan a sight of goal.

“You concede those goals that we gave up there tonight, you’re not going to win an U12 game,” O’Brien said.

“Listen, unacceptable obviously. I think for the first half we dominated the game. So to be going 2-1 down, especially with the two goals that we conceded here, it was hard to take. I thought the lads again reacted quite well. But then to give up that third goal here, you give three goals away like that in any game, never mind being up here, you’re not going to win.”

The third in question was gifted to Graham Burke – his 100th for Rovers – when goalkeeper Wessel Speel fumbled a corner kick in the six-yard box. Shels have now lost back-to-back games 3-2 and have conceded 15 goals in 10 games.

It’s the third-worst defensive record in the Premier Division – only bottom two Waterford and Sligo Rovers are worse off – and O’Brien was clear in his assessment.

“It’s a recipe for disaster. And here, five out of them six goals are unacceptable, really. So, yeah, it’s something that we need to address or we won’t be winning games.

“I think you can be as good as all you want on set plays but the first one, definitely, we knew what was coming, we expected it. So here, the lads were just passive, just allowing [themselves] to be blocked. It’s unacceptable and then the corner, it’s a freak one really.

“I was saying to the lads before the game, top players, they can have an off night but when you’re a top player, you always react and always put in a performance. I thought the level of some of our lads’ performance out there was top, top drawer. But again, our individual mistakes for three goals, you’re not going to win any game.

“It goes back to your top players. They can have a bad game, a bad night. But you’re a top player for a reason and most top players have one bad game and never follow up again.

“Tonight Jack [Henry-Francis], Kerr [McInroy], Harry [Wood], JJ [Lunney] are top, top performers, you know.”

O’Brien confirmed that captain Paddy Barrett is training and in line to feature in the Leinster Senior Cup, but it was that passivity he spoke about that left a bitter taste.

“A lot of things work on set plays whether you are man marking or you go zonal. For me, when I played I always wanted [to mark] the best header of the ball. Me against him, eyeball to eyeball. If my man scored it was my fault.

“Ultimately, as a footballer that is what it’s about. You can coach them all you want, but it’s about you making sure that ball doesn’t end up in the back of your net.

“It’s about putting your body on the line and making sure you don’t concede.”

For Rovers boss Stephen Bradley, meanwhile, he praised “special player” Burke for hitting 100 goals and also reserved a mention for captain Lopes, who returned from international duty in Auckland last week after playing two World Cup warm-up friendlies for Cape Verde.

“It’s incredible, he comes back on Wednesday and he says he wants to play, ‘I feel good, don’t worry, I’m fine’. We had our plans of not taking him to Watford, but he wanted to come. It’s a credit to him and how he lives his life and what he gives to his craft. Usually when you commit your life to something you get rewarded.

“He obviously manages his load, but even last Thursday he wanted to train before the game. He said no, he’s actually fine, he wanted to train. Everyone will have a down week this week and just prepare for Pats [on Friday].”