Jack Watson: 'We showed we can be as good as title favourites Shelbourne tonight'

Andrew Dempsey reports from Tolka Park

Cabinteely produced arguably the shock of the round in terms of results on Friday evening with a superb 3-2 win over a Shelbourne side heavily tipped for promotion this year.

A spot kick from Conor Keeley, who later left the field of play injured, and a double from attacking duo Rob Manley and Kieran Marty Waters sent Cabo on their way to an unlikely win over their Dublin rivals at Tolka Park.

Speaking after the match to extratime.ie, Jack Watson said that a result like that shows how good this Cabinteely side can be against quality opposition like Shelbourne.

“Everyone has put them in as favourites along with Bray and look we showed how we can be as good as them tonight,” the midfielder said.

“There was a big crowd here tonight and we showed some great character to come through and get the win.

“The lads were brilliant tonight. We went one goal down and they showed great character going forward and Conor obviously scored that penalty right before the break which was a great boost.

“The second half saw them have a good spell early on, but we got through it and we got two great goals from Marty and Rob so there’s lots of positives to take from tonight.”

There was a bumper crowd in attendance at Tolka Park on Friday evening with no fewer than 1,097 coming through the turnstiles at the Richmond Road venue.

Watson, 23, added that the more numbers that come through the gates at League of Ireland grounds in particular will only add to the games which have certainly lived up to expectations thus far.



“Crowds are really good across the league and the attendances across the board show that. The likes of both Bray and Limerick coming down has brought the crowds.

“It’s creating a great atmosphere and lovely to play in front of. It’s what you want to see week in week out.”

And finally, Cabinteely must now back up their big win over Shelbourne with a positive result against Longford Town next week at Stradbrook.

Looking ahead to that game, the former UCD midfield star said that they will keep their head down this week as they look to make another statement of intent against Neale Fenn’s side. 

“Longford were really difficult to play against last year, we had some hard encounters against them, but we’ll keep the head down once more and keep going the way we’re going.

“We’re heading in the right direction, we have a new squad and we got a great result tonight, so we’ll just keep going the way we’re going and look forward to each game.”



“Rob was brilliant for us tonight. He has it all really: he can hold it up; he can take it in; he can spin in behind with his pace.

“He has scored a great goal tonight and he’s been involved in plenty of good play for us so far this year!”