Shelbourne left with work to do after narrow win over St Joseph’s

Europa Conference League first qualifying round, first leg: Shelbourne 2 St Joseph’s 1

Will Jarvis provided an assist and a penalty as Shelbourne laboured to a frustratingly narrow victory on their long awaited return to Europe.

Though dominant for long stretches of the game, manager Damien Duff will be displeased that his side failed to produce enough chances to perhaps have killed off the tie ahead of the second leg in Gibraltar next week.

New Republic of Ireland manager Heimir Hallgrímsson was in attendance in the 3,655 capacity attendance just hours after he met the Irish media for the first time at the Aviva Stadium.

With an apparent nod to the classic Dublin ballad ‘The Rare Ould Times’ a sea of red in the packed Riverside Stand in the 3,655 capacity attendance unfurled a banner proclaiming: ‘Raised on Shels and Glories’.

And with Liam Burt in for Evan Caffrey in their one change from their last outing, Shelbourne’s 18-year wait for a return to European action was sated after just 27 seconds with St Joseph’s having scarcely touched the ball.

Announced the day before as June’s player of the month, Jarvis was the orchestrator when collecting skipper Mark Coyle’s pass out left before slaloming cleverly between two defenders.

The winger then laid the ball back across the area for Coyle who advanced to put his laces through it and drill his shot from 22 yards low into the bottom right-hand corner of goalkeeper Alejandro Navas Ruiz’s net.

The perfect start laid the foundation Shelbourne would have craved as they then dominated possession with St Joseph’s forced to pack everyone behind the ball.

Despite enjoying plenty of the play, it was the 31st minute before the visitors’ rearguard was seriously threatened again.

Once more it was Jarvis who created the opening, setting up Burt whose shot was inches over.

Two minutes earlier, St Joseph’s had got their first sight of goal, Liam Walker rifling a low drive wide from distance.

Shelbourne’s first real set-piece routine then hinted at promise on 37 minutes. Coyle’s header from a tight angle failed to unduly trouble Navas Ruiz from Burt’s delivery.

Failure to properly defend St Joseph’s first corner of the game then proved costly for Shelbourne five minutes before half-time.

Walker’s floated cross struck Francisco Paul Curado in the stomach to bounce past Conor Kearns for a fortuitously soft equaliser.

With Seán Boyd on for the second half in place of Matty Smith, Shelbourne went with two up top.

And their more direct approach brought its reward on 58 minutes.

John Martin was tripped in a double challenge from Manuel Sanchez Lopez and Gabriel Cardozo Tomas in the area to concede a penalty. Jarvis duly stepped up to score emphatically from 12 yards, shooting to the roof of the net as Navas Ruiz went the other way.

Despite the introduction of further attacking players in Ali Coote, Harry Wood and Caffrey, Shelbourne continued to struggle in front of goal.

That looked set to change on 80 minutes. Seán Gannon, teed up by the impressive Jarvis, looked set to celebrate his 33rd birthday with a rare goal. Sanchez Lopes got across diligently to block the goalbound shot.

Minutes earlier had brought a moment of worry for Shelbourne when Alvaro Rey’s free-kick was not too far wide of a post following a rare foray forward.

On a night of frustration then for Shelbourne, St Joseph’s you sensed left Tolka Park happy enough to bring just a one-goal deficit back home.

Derry City, meanwhile, have it all to do ahead of next week’s second leg at the Ryan McBride Brandywell Stadium as they fell to a disheartening 2-0 defeat to Bruno’s Magpies in Gibraltar.

Derry started well with midfielder Adam O’Reilly rattling the crossbar with a shot from distance early on.

But they fell behind four minutes into the second half when central defender Ashton Taylor scored from a Carlos Garcia corner.

Derry were undone from another set-piece on 81 minutes with Francisco Zuniga scoring from a free-kick.

SHELBOURNE: Kearns; Gannon, Barrett, Ledwidge, Wilson; Coyle (Caffrey, 75), Lunney; Burt (Coote, 59), Smith (Boyd, h-t), Jarvis (Bone, 89); Martin (Wood, 59).

ST JOSEPH’S: Navas Ruiz; Rey (Bautista, 85), Curado (Pons, 69), Jolley (Rosa, 85), Cardozo Tomas, Alvarez (Aznar, 63); Walker, Juanma, Sanchez Lopez, Olivero; Rodriguez Moreno (Pena, 63).

Referee: Luis Teixeira (Andorra).