We have been busy during the close season working on our Family Zone concept which will launch at the first home match against Cobh Ramblers on Friday, March 4th.

Please give the Family Zone your support and spread the word. We want to see as many families and young supporters coming to Tolka Park and to give them the best possible experience. In addition to the Family Zone, we have introduced a scheme where all Shelbourne players – boys and girls – will be given a free season ticket to acknowledge the important contribution that they make to our club.

Pre-match Activities

Starting 45 minutes before kick-off in the small function room (middle of the main stand), face-painting, puzzles and other activities will entertain our young supporters. Early-comers will also have the opportunity to have a photo taken in the dug-outs and players from both the Men’s and Women’s National League sides will call in to say hello.

Candy Hamper prize

Our friends at the Candy Cloud in Dublin Airport have kindly provided a fantastic hamper of treats (photo above) for each home game. One lucky young supporter will be presented with this prize on the pitch at half time

Family Seating

Part of Section B in the main stand has been designated as Family Seating. This area will be non-smoking and extra stewarding will be provided. Swearing and abusive language or behaviour will not be tolerated in the Family Seating area. New signage indicates the area clearly.

Snack Packs

Some great value kids’ snack packs will be available for €2.50 from the shop.

SHAMROCK ROVERS 2(Kehoe og 36′, Gary Shaw 86′)

SHELBOURNE 1(Gavin Boyne 63′)

Gary Shaw’s first goal for Shamrock Rovers sealed a 2-1 victory over Shelbourne at Tallaght Stadium in the sides’ final game before their respective league openers.

A full report on the game can be had, courtesy of Dave Donnelly and extratime.ie, by following thisLINK

Shamrock Rovers: Barry Murphy (Craig Hyland 79′), Simon Madden (Robert Cornwall 79′), Maxime Blanchard (David Webster 79′), David O’Connor (Sean Heaney 59′), Luke Byrne (Trevor Clarke 64′), Gavin Brennan, Gary McCabe, Killian Brennan (Richie Purdy 71′), Brandon Miele, Michael Drennan (Gareth McCaffrey 79′), Danny North (Gary Shaw 65′).

Substitutes:All used

Shelbourne: Greg Murray, Adam O’Connor, Alan Kehoe, Aidan Collins (Bobby O’Reilly 59′), Ryan Robinson (Conor Keeley 90′), Daire Doyle, Cian Kavanagh (Robert Duggan 79′), Gavin Boyne (Gareth Coughlan 83′), Lorcan Shannon (Mark Sandford 79′), James English (Carl Walshe 63′), Jamie Doyle (Sodiq Oguntola 71′) .

Substitutes not used: Jack Brady, Dylan Grimes.

Shelbourne FC are delighted to have in their ranks a brother & sister playing for the men’s & ladies senior teams!

Coming from a family more used to displaying green & white hoops – both Cian & Alex are lighting up games in the Red of Shelbourne.

Alex Kavanagh joined Shelbourne LFC in 2011 at age 11. At that time Alex played for both Home Farm Boys & Shelbourne girls! Her team won the U/12 All Ireland title with Shelboune that year & she committed fully to Shels the following season. Her U/13 team won the U/14 All Ireland Cup in 2012, and again the following year playing at U/14. That very successful team won the U/16 National Cup again in 2014 playing at U/15.

Alex became the youngest player to play for the International team when she earned her first cap, aged 12, in an U/16 friendly against England at the opening of Georges Park in the UK. The attacking mid fielder was called up to the Women’s National League team on 29th January this year & scored on her debut away to Castlebar on 20th February. Her underage manager, Gordon Ewing described Alex as a “Stephen Gerrard – the only difference is Alex has trophies!”

Cian is an exciting young midfielder who joined Shamrock Rovers Under 19s from St. Kevin’s Boys during the summer of 2013. Cian joined Shelbourne on loan from Shamrock Rovers, for the 2016 season, on December 21st 2015.

Compared by the then Rovers’ U19 manager Declan Hevey to being in the “Ronan Finn mould”, Cian indeed proved himself to be an influential figure in the middle of the park for the Under 19 team. Gradual involvement with the first team last season saw him make the move up to the seniors for the 2015 season.

He made twenty appearances for the First Division side, scoring two goals in the process, whilst also getting picked for the Premier Division side and playing in the 3-0 win over UCD in September 2014.

Great News – New Sponsor

abbeyseals

come on board as main sponsor.

More Details to follow

Dublin’s leading local newspaper, Northside People, has become the Official Media Partner to Shelbourne Football Club.

The newspaper, which was launched almost 30 years ago in 1987, will be involved in the promotion of Shelbourne FC fixtures and events, at League of Ireland, Women’s National League and schoolboy/schoolgirl levels. This will be delivered through the printed format of the weekly newspaper, on its www.dublinpeople.com website and across its social media platforms, such as Facebook and Twitter.

Commenting on the media partnership, Northside People group editor, Tony McCullagh, said: “We are delighted to be associated with an iconic local club such as Shelbourne FC, which has been part of the Dublin community since 1895. We are looking forward to helping Shels further build on their support base by encouraging football fans – and families in particular – to attend the first team’s home games at Tolka Park in Drumcondra for the upcoming season.”

He added: “We have also been very impressed with the club’s commitment to developing up-and-coming talent through the Shelbourne Youth Academy, which caters for boys and girls and offers a complete pathway from schoolboy/schoolgirl soccer to League of Ireland level. We hope to work with the club in attracting new young players to Shelbourne FC in the future.”

Shelbourne FC Chairman, Joe Casey, commented:

“The Northside People is the ideal media partner for us because it is so much a part of the community on the northside of Dublin. As a club, we have worked hard over the past ten years or so to develop our underage setup for boys and girls. Building on that, this season we have entered a team in the Women’s National League for the first time. The people that run those parts of the club deserve great credit in helping us to establish Shelbourne FC as a community-based club.

“Attracting families and young fans is key to the club’s future development. We’re introducing a Family Zone for our first team’s home matches in Tolka Park this season with face-painting, competition prizes and a family seating area. We hope this will encourage families to come along to home matches, starting with our first match on Friday, March 4th. The Family Zone activities are free and will start from 7pm.”

NOTE TO EDITORS: Northside People is part of the Dublin People Media Group and publishes three weekly newspapers across the city – Northside People (east), Northside People (west) and Southside People – with a distribution of 120,000 copies and *TGI weekly readership of 340,000 (*Target Group Index).

Congratulations to Shelbourne’s Dylan Grimes who has been selected by FAI Schools to participate in this year’s Centenary Shield.

Midfielder Dylan (who will be represention Marino College) is dually signed to Shelbourne’s Under 19s and First Team.

The Centenary Shield will cover 2 home and 2 away games. Please refer to schedule of fixtures below for further details.

Centenary Shield Fixtures

(H)Thursday, March 17 –Republic of Ireland vs Northern Ireland inArklow Town FC, KO1pm

(A)Friday, April 8 –England vs Republic of Ireland in Park Hall Stadium, The New Saints FC, KO7.30pm

(H)Thursday, April 14 –Republic of Ireland vs Scotland inKillarney Celtic FC, KO7pm

(A)Thursday, April 28 –Wales vs Republic of Ireland in Llandudno, KO7pm

GALWAY UNITED 1 (Kevin Devaney 6′)

SHELBOURNE 2 (Cian Kavanagh 23′, Ryan Robinson 85′)

Shelbourne emerged victorious in this pre-season encounter with a 2-1 win over Galway United on Saturday afternoon at a bitterly cold Fahy’s Field.

Full report courtesy of Paul Corcoran and extratime.ie can be readHERE

Shelbourne’s Mikey Murphy was today selected for Tom Mohan’s Ireland Under 17s squadtwo forthcoming friendly international fixtures against Switzerland in Waterford.

Mikey is one of five home based players selected in the squad of 18.

Mikey is a dual player for Shels Under 19s and Under 17s, managed by Martin Murray and Stephen Finn respectiovely and is a product of the Shelbourne FC Academy.

Full details on the squad and details of the fixtures can be accessedHERE

Our U19s got their Pre-season up and running playing against the Irish Schools U18 International team in the New FAI Abbotstown facility on Sunday last.

It was a very encouraging 2-2 draw, especially as Shels came back from two down after an hour to earn a deserved draw – both goals coming from James Brown, one from the peno spot after he had been fouled in the box. All six new signings got a run out, as did George Mukete, making a comeback after a season long injury.

Squad for the game; Matt Lyons, David Harper, James Brown, Stephen Kelly, Fintan Devlin, Cian Fogarty, George Mukete, Glenn Carragher (Capt), Stephen Meaney, Gavin Balfe, Ross Coyle, Ryan O’Neill, Michael Murphy, Andy Gorman, Alex Barry, Aaron Ralph, and Dammy Awosanya.

We wish Paddy O’Reilly and his Irish Squad the best of luck in the up coming Carnegie Centenary Tournament and hope they retain there trophy

The next pre-season game for Martin Murray’s side is against Galway Unitedon Saturday20th, provisionally in Fahy’s Field Astro with5pmkick off. Support welcome after the 1st team’s game (against Galway United in Eamonn Deacy Park at 3pm).

The club has received notification from the FAI’s Club Licensing Department that we have been successful in our application for a Club Licence for the 2016 Season.

Joe Casey congratulated our Licensing Officer who has led Shelbourne’s application every year since Club Licensing was first introduced in 2004.

Licensing Officer, Liam Ward, told us, “The application itself is much easier to complete now than it was back in 2004. The Club Licensing Department in the FAI have streamlined the process considerably over the years and the exercise of filling in the form is the easiest part of it, to be honest. It’s the efforts of other people at the club who keep the stadium maintained, run the youth sections, prepare financial statements and volunteer to fulfil the various roles that are required by Licensing that should take the credit.”