Athlone lose unbeaten

It seemed like a good time for Athlone to face an out-of-form Shelbourne when they travelled to Tolka Park last Friday evening. Following a bright start to the league campaign, Dermot Keely"s Shelbourne had slipped to two successive league defeats, while Athlone had not yet been beaten on their travels. Brendan Place"s side had also managed to keep three clean sheets on the road in the process. With Shelbourne"s Alan Keely and Peter Hynes out, and doubts persisting over Kevin Doherty, Richie Baker and midfield dynamo David McAllister right until kick-off, Athlone must have fancied their chances of an upset. However, Athlone had major selection problems of their own with midfielders Anthony Hayes and Damien Rushe missing through injury, and Robbie Benson on international duty with the Ireland senior schools side. The extent of Athlone"s injury problems and lack of strength of depth in their squad was fully highlighted with Brendan Place forced to include two previously untried youngsters from the club"s youth ranks on the bench and to field veteran assistant manager Padraig Moran in the starting line-up. Athlone"s efforts were further hampered as the game progressed when Thomas McGauley had to leave the field because of injury. The signs looked promising for Athlone when the first attack fell their way. Straight from kick-off, the ball found its way to right winger Onwubiko who hit a low cross to the near post that found Stephen Place, who had made a diagonal run but could only manage to angle a half-volley into the side netting. The threat of the former Bray Wanderers man Onwubiko was further outlined after a clever bit of interplay between himself and McGee. After a one-two with McGee, Onwubiko looked to have found a clear opening only to be cynically brought down at the edge of the box. Unfortunately, Kieran O"Reilly couldn"t do more with the free-kick which was headed away. After the whirlwind start, Shelbourne gathered their composure to establish parity with the visitors and began to match their intensity. Indeed, the Reds may have gone ahead on 15 minutes when star striker Anthony Flood attempted an audacious half-volley lob from just a few yards after the halfway line. A cleared ball went straight to Flood, who showed great awareness to try and lob Shanahan from the left wing, but the Town "keeper was equal to the effort and gathered it up. Soon after, Des Hope prevented a certain goal by making a sliding tackle on Flood who was bearing down on goal having been fed through by Dave McGill. Onwubiko was continuing to make a nuisance of himself as his clever turn and driven shot skidded off the ground and was held on to by the well-positioned Shelbourne "keeper. This nuisance was continued as he nearly bundled over Shelbourne"s manager Keely as his momentum carried him over the sideline and into the animated coach moments later. As the game progressed, Athlone began to play deeper, without being overtly defensive, leaving their forwards a bit isolated. Clearly the idea was to catch the home side on the counter attack through either strikers McGee or Place, or Onwubiko on the wing. By this stage, Shelbourne were in the ascendancy with both McGill and Paddy Madden going close having been given too much room to get their respective shots away. Athlone tried to take the sting out of this onslaught by taking their time with any dead ball situation. This was frustrating the home fans as much as Shelbourne"s players. This may have led to the introduction of some animosity that led to two yellow cards for needless challenges from Shelbourne"s David Crawley and Athlone"s O"Reilly. As Flood finished the half with a volley he hammered over from six yards, Athlone would have considered themselves the happier of the two sides. Dermot Keely seemed annoyed with his team as the first half wore on and decided to introduce some fresh vigour into his side, bringing on Derek Doyle and Darren Meenan after the break. The move proved to be Athlone"s undoing, as there was more verve and energy about the home side"s midfield. On the 48 minute mark, Flood fired a header to the left of Shanahan and into the back of the net following a cross from the left by Crawley. And less than two minutes later the home side were two goals ahead. The industrious Meenan contested a fifty-fifty ball that fell to David Cassidy, who passed the ball through to Flood. He turned in the box and aimed a shot to the far corner of the net. Shanahan made a brilliant out-stretched save to parry the ball away. Unfortunately for Shanahan, the ball fell to Shelbourne substitute Doyle who rifled the ball into the empty net from a tight angle. Flood and Madden were causing Athlone plenty of problems. Cathal Joyce was brought on for Padraig Moran and Athlone switched to a 4-3-3 formation to see if they could offer more offensively. It didn"t seem to be working and Onwubiko was finding himself isolated having been pushed forward as part of the three-man attack. He needed the ball to work his magic, but no one was providing him with it. Athlone may have felt they were in with a chance of fighting their way back into the match when David Crawley was sent off for a challenge on Stephen Place on 71 minutes. Place was later replaced by teenage striker Kevin Horan whose appearance at the age of 16 years and four months makes him the club"s youngest ever player in the League of Ireland, breaking a record set previously by Robbie Benson. Moments later, Onwubiko almost scored an acrobatic bicycle kick, only to be denied by Cassidy who cleared off the line. The rest of the half was uneventful except for a good clearance from Athlone substitute Kevin Dunne who sliced a Flood shot over the bar. Shanahan also produced a top-class save to prevent Madden from scoring a certain goal after he fired a rising effort when a free-kick rebounded back off the Athlone wall in the last few minutes. Athlone will be disappointed to have lost their unbeaten away record, which disappeared following that three-minute blitz from the home side after half-time. But manager Brendan Place will have a good first-half performance and fine individual showings from Onwubiko, O"Reilly and Shanahan to build on for their next match against Monaghan Utd on Saturday. Shelbourne: Vinny Whelan; Stephen Quigley; David Crawley; Robbie Hedderman; Kevin Doherty; Mark O"Brien; Dave McGill; David Cassidy; Paddy Madden; Anthony Flood; Dave McAllister. Subs: Derek Doyle for O"Brien (45 mins); Darren Meenan for McAllister (45). Athlone Town: Aaron Shanahan; Robbie Hamm; Brian Cleary; Thomas McGauley; Des Hope; Kieran O"Reilly; Emeka Onwubiko; Kevin Williamson; Stephen Place; Padraig Moran. Subs: Cathal Joyce for Moran (45 mins); Kevin Dunne for McGauley (71); Kevin Horan for Place (89). Referee: P Tuite.