Shelbourne: 1

Derry City: 2

Darryl Geraghty reports from Tolka Park

DERRY CITY CAME out on top in a battle between the two under-pressure managers as a crowd of 3,624 were treated to an end-to-end encounter that both sides will have felt they could have won.

Despite missing ex-Ireland international James McClean and reigning Player of the Year Michael Duffy, the visitors earned their first away win of the season.

Barry Cotter’s first for the club was cancelled out by John Martin before Dipo Akinyemi almost burst the net to earn a huge three points.

With the hosts sitting nine points behind Shamrock Rovers at kick-off and the visitors further back, trailing by 11 points, both of the pre-season title hopefuls desperately looked to inject some momentum into their respective seasons.

With just a couple of minutes on the clock, James Clarke flew in to block a slack Wessel Speel pass but saw his blocked effort fly wide.

There was some welcome news for the home side as Paddy Barrett came back into the starting 11 and minutes later, saw his downward header at the Ballybough end well saved by Eddie Beach.

After some tense toing and froing, Shels’ Achilles heel from set pieces came back to hurt them yet again. Ben Doherty’s inswinging corner was half cleared by Speel, before Adam O’Reilly did well to keep the ball alive, winning his header just right of the area.

James Clarke picked up the loose ball and bundled his way into the area, and after seeing the ball ricochet up nicely, Cotter made no mistake, smashing home a sweetly struck volley to put his side in front.

With officially just 35 tickets sold in the away section, those who made the trip began to look on nervously as Shels continuously went to the endline, but cross after cross came to nothing as the home fans began to grow restless.

But their disgruntlement subsided just five minutes after the restart, with goalscorer Cotter giving the ball away cheaply. Kameron Ledwidge then swung in an inviting cross from the left, finding the unmarked John Martin, who had all the time in the world to fire past the helpless Beach from close range.

Having gotten themselves back in the game, the Reds almost shot themselves in the foot following some slack play in the middle that allowed Josh Thomas a clear run at the heart of the defence.

The recovering Sam Bone was grateful to see Barrett on the cover, no doubt saving him what would have been a certain red card as he brought down the pacey front man.

Tiernan Lynch unloaded the bench in a bid to halt the home side’s growing momentum and paid dividends straight away. The fresh legs of Darragh Markey bravely blocked a Ledwidge clearance, and as the ball bounced kindly back into the box, Akinyemi rifled home an unstoppable volley with his first touch into the roof of the net.

Despite their best efforts, the home side could only muster a couple of dangerous crosses as Derry held on for victory.

Shelbourne: Wessel Speel; Sam Bone, Paddy Barrett, Kameron Ledwidge: Evan Caffrey (Sean Gannon, 75’), Kerr McInroy (Ali Coote, 62’), JJ Lunney, Jack Henry-Francis (Rodrigo Freitas, 75’) Daniel Kelly (Will Jarvis, 46’); Harry Wood, John Martin (Sean Boyd, 80’)

Subs not used: Conor Walsh, Ellis Chapman, Maill Lundgren, James Roche

Derry City: Eddie Beach: Conor Barr, Patrick McClean, Jamie Stott; Barry Cotter (Henry Rylah, 75’), Adam O’Reilly (James Olayinka, 61’), Carl Winchester, Ben Doherty (Cameron Dummigan, 61’), Brandon Fleming; James Clarke (Darragh Markey, 61’), Josh Thomas (Dipo Akinyemi, 67’)

Subs not used: Shea Callister, Kevin Dos Santos, Alex Bannon, Callum Downey

Referee: Aaron O’Dowd (Dublin)