Shelbourne's Oscar Brennan: 'The ten-team league has really helped - there are six or seven teams in the mix'

Andrew Dempsey reports from Tolka Park

Shelbourne saw themselves soar to pole position in the First Division table on Friday evening thanks to a nervy one goal win over Cobh Ramblers at Tolka Park.

Ryan Brennan’s goal after half an hour saw the Reds secure all three points against Stephen Henderson’s side, who were perhaps unfortunate to leave the capital with nothing to show for their efforts.

Speaking after the game with extratime.ie, Shels midfielder Oscar Brennan admitted that he felt that the hosts made hard work of the win over the County Cork outfit.  

“I think as most weeks, it’s about the three points at the end of the night”, the ex-Cabinteely star revealed.

“We made hard work of it, especially during the first half.

“We didn’t start the game well, and probably didn’t play well throughout the game, but it was the three points on the board that mattered most.

“Cobh are a good side. They’ve got good, technical players. They have their way of playing and Stephen always has an organised team. You’ll never come up against a disorganised Cobh team.

“They gave us a really difficult game down there and turned us over. It was tough but thankfully we came out with the win.”

With the win over Cobh, and Cabinteely’s 1-0 defeat away to Limerick, the Reds went top of the table with Ian Morris’ side slowly starting to show why many consider them as title favourites.



“We’re really pleased with how it’s going”, the 23-year-old holding midfielder said.  

“It was always going to take time at the start of the season. I think we knew ourselves that we had a disappointing enough pre-season in terms of performances and maybe in terms of results.

“[The First Division] is definitely different. On a personal level the objective now at Shelbourne was different to the objective at Cabinteely then [in 2016].

“I still think that playing each other three times is not enough. It’s great that there are three teams involved in a playoff, but it probably goes on a bit too long and it’s in favour of the Premier Division side.

“The ten teams has definitely helped the league, as you can see when there’s five, six, seven teams who are all in the mix who can win the league and definitely challenge for the playoff.”

Next up for Shelbourne is a home clash against Longford Town, a game that certainly whets the appetite of the Dubliner who is seeking revenge over De Town after their last encounter in March.



“Hopefully it will be a good game. The surface tonight was brilliant at Tolka and I would imagine it will be the same next week.

“Longford have a good style of play, Neale Fenn and Daire Doyle will always have a good team and they will be organised.

“Similarly, to Cobh, they did us earlier this season so we know that it will be a really tough game but it’s one we’re looking forward to now.”