AS JACK MOYLAN made his way along the touchline to the Shelbourne bench after being substituted in the 87th minute last night, a flurry of kids left their seats and scurried towards him with outstretched arms through the railing.
There were high fives and fist bumps, although one poor lad was too slow off the mark and missed his chance with the new hero of Tolka Park.
By that point the 20-year-old was the one dishing out a back slap to Joey O’Brien.
Damien Duff’s assistant was filling in on the line while the Shels boss sees out a three-game ban, but he wasn’t one for a bear hug with the scorer of the first goal – and first in the top flight – just yet.
The game was still in the balance and his focus was on the pitch. It was only after the three points were secured, a first home win in seven attempts this season, that O’Brien could relax.
An emotional week earlier delivered the news that the ‘Save Tolka Park’ campaign was successful, Dublin City Council confirming that their plans to rezone the land for residential use were binned.
“It was great. I thought the boys were fantastic. We spoke about it before the game about the news Tolka Park was saved,” O’Brien said.
“We touched on that, we wanted to give the fans two reasons to celebrate, and I thought we were really good, we probably should have got three or four.”
Had Moylan made a a different decision in the final third minutes before his first-half goal they might just have. A simple pass into the path of left wing back Conor Kane would have opened up space for a shot on that side but, instead, he turned back into trouble and lost possession.
Moments later, when right wing back JR Wilson won back possession on the edge of Sligo’s box and the ball squirmed its way towards Moylan in the D, his sharp swivel and shot ended up in the top corner.
“He’s one of those players who is high quality. That decision making is a good part of his game but at that moment he just picked the wrong decision.
“Look, maybe if he had played that one earlier he wouldn’t have taken that chance when it came. Maybe he was a little bit angry with himself and took the shot when it fell to him. It was a hell of a finish,” O’Brien beamed.
“He is a high quality player. I spoke to him at the start of the season, he started off really well without getting that goal really and then he got a bad injury so he’s come back to it.
“He was really good and scored a great goal but hopefully now he can kick on and get a few more.”
There will be plenty more fist bumps and high fives to come.
