Shels shock Rovers with well-earned win at Tolka

Friday night lights took on a new context as a shiny red neon scoreboard in the Ballybough End read 2-1 as Shelbourne earned a first league win over Shamrock Rovers since May 2005.

Shelbourne recovered from an early missed penalty from Tyreke Wilson to march two goals in front through superb individual efforts from Mark Coyle and Will Jarvis in an action-packed first half.

Rory Gaffney pulled one back for the defending champions four minutes after the restart to tee up a tension-filled second period and had it not been for a couple of late saves from Conor Kearns they may have snatched a point.

Rovers recovered from a slow start to win a fourth Premier Division title last season but their drive for five has hit an early pothole.

It was the hosts, roared on by a capacity 4,700 Tolka Park crowd who started quick, swarming the defending champions with an aggressive press.

Paddy Barrett typified this eagerness after he was first to a breaking ball from a corner in the fourth minute only to be bundled over in the area by Lee Grace.

Tyreke Wilson blasted the resulting penalty wide but Shels would get the goal their play deserved twelve minutes later.

From another corner, the ball broke to new club captain, Coyle who curled beautifully to the net from outside the box.

The Reds played lots of silky football but it was a brilliantly worked route one move that doubled their lead in the 26th minute.

Jarvis plucked a Kearns goal kick from the sky in between Josh Honohan and Dan Cleary then curled precisely past Leon Pohls.

As Mauro Picotto's 'Stadium’ rang in the ears of the Shelbourne players, they lost their concentration and Graham Burke appeared from the bench to kickstart the visitors.

Darragh Burns nearly curled in from a similar spot