Shelbourne overcome floodlight failure to begin title defence with victory over Derry

Champions Shelbourne had a loyal fan with the right connections to thank – and a Derry City side unable to defend – as they sauntered to success as the League of Ireland resumed.

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The second half of this game was delayed by almost an hour due to a power outage at Tolka just moments after the half-time whistle – the timing remarkable, mere days after the country finally came out of one of the worst losses of electricity due to a storm in its history.

Most, perhaps all of the sold-out Tolka crowd, had an image of Damien Duff in a darkened room: what must he have been thinking at the break? A very likely win against a big team might have been rendered obsolete.

Instead, as they head north in the early hours, Derry – who have a massive wage bill and will have expected to challenge for the title this season – would have had their own share of dark thoughts about what is in store in 2025.

The Candystripes, with new boss Tiernan Lynch having his first taste of League of Ireland management after a surprise move from Larne, were miles off the pace as Shels, one of the favourites for the league, showed that they should not be underestimated.

A Seán Boyd double, one from the spot, and Evan Caffrey's goal had Shels two up at the break, a lovely Michael Duffy header scant consolation for Derry, who will do well to compete for a place in Europe unless they improve markedly on this effort.

Reports that Duff himself had fixed the sparks issue could not immediately be verified. It later turned out that a fan at the match who works for the Electricity Supply Board sprung to action, addressed what the problem was, dialled the on-call team from the ESB and it came to save Shelbourne's title challenge.

That, of course, is an