Doherty hurting but not hiding

Kevin Doherty is hurting. He openly admits as much in the trophy room located beneath the New Stand in Tolka Park. Speaking shortly after Shelbourne's 2-0 defeat to UCD, Doherty said with candor, “It should hurt and it hurts me more than it hurts anyone, but that's football.”

When it comes to Shels, the current Reds boss wears his heart on his sleeve. It's what endears him to the fans in Tolka, what prompted members of the Shels Ultras group, Briogáid Dearg, to fly a flag earlier in the season bearing the legend: 'Kevin Doherty – One of Us'.

It is this bond – forged across two separate spells as a player, the first of which yielded three league titles between 2001 and 2004 and the second of which saw him finish his playing career with the Reds in the First Division in 2009 – that makes this current situation so difficult for Doherty to take.

“It's not acceptable, I don't accept it anyway, and the thing about this place is I love it so much that it's hurting me more than anything that I've ever done in my whole life,” Doherty admitted to Extratime.ie. “To see us conceding goals the way we're conceding goals... it's my job to put a finger on it, but when you're making the individual mistakes that we're making, it's very hard [to rectify].

“I was very positive coming into this after Finn Harps because, apart from the ridiculous penalty, we defended very well. I just can't get lads to head balls, I can't get lads to kick balls – I can't do it, I wish I could. I'd still be playing if I could, but at the moment it's just not translating from the really good training [onto the pitch].

“I have everything I've ever asked for here at the club, they're doing everything they can,” Doherty added. “They've given me the pitch [Tolka] to train on when I need it and stuff, but it's my responsibility to get them to do that [the players to win games] and I was extremely disappointed with tonight.”

Shels are currently sixth in the First Division table with eight points from nine games – a distant 13 points off current league leaders Finn Harps and three adrift of the team immediately above them, a revitalised Cobh Ramblers. Doherty's players are without a win in the league since March 20^th when they defeated Cabinteely 1-0 at Stradbrook – they have taken just one point from their six games since.

Reds fans are also yet to see their team win in four league games at Tolka, while they haven't seen a Shels player wheel away in celebration of a goal since Conor Earley's 52^nd minute strike in the 4-2 home defeat to Wexford Youths on April 10^th – approximately 308 minutes of football ago, or three and a bit games to be less precise.

They didn't look like finding the net in the first-half against UCD as the Students dominated, taking a 2-0 lead through Chris Mulhall and Jack Watson before Gary O'Neill's sending off in the 37^th minute granted Shels a lifeline they ultimately failed to take. Collie O'Neill's team put their bodies on the line to survive the second half onslaught and Doherty has no doubts that the better side won.

“The second half was easy for us because we were 2-0 down and they were down to ten men, but it's just not good enough. I'm under no illusions, the performances just haven't been good enough,” said Doherty. “The two goals we conceded in the first half were absolutely criminal.

“I signed every one of those players because I believed they were really, really good players and they would ultimately get us out of this division, but at the moment...”

 

The half-time introduction of Philly Hughes saw Shels revert to two up front and gain a foothold in the match, albeit with a one-man advantage. Doherty favours playing a lone striker, but given Shels' travails in front of goal – they've scored just seven times in the league – would starting with two strikers be more beneficial to the Reds' chances of winning games?

 

“We've looked at it, we went 4-4-2 down in Cobh and battered the door down, but again we didn't take our chances. I think it's too simplistic for people to think, 'Just throw two centre-forwards on' and that's a way of winning games,” replied Doherty.

“Particularly against the likes of UCD when they're so good on the ball and they play three midfielders, I felt before the game – and I still do – that if we sacrificed an extra midfielder to go with an extra centre forward, they might overrun us in midfield.

“I think we created enough chances with the extra man and the extra centre-forward to get something out of the game – but we didn't deserve it because of the first-half performance. We didn't deserve anything out of it.”

Shels' next opponents are Southsiders Cabo, and Doherty is in no mood to shirk the challenge in front of him which seems to get more difficult with each passing week – and he intends to make sure that his players, the ones that he signed, aren't going to shirk it either.

“Cabinteely did something that we didn't do last week – they got a point out of Finn Harps. I know what the game is going to be like,” said Doherty.

“It's is going to be a physical game and a time for people to stand up, myself included. If the players who are going out aren't doing it then I might be picking the wrong players. I have other lads there as well and it's my responsibility to try and rectify it.”

Kevin Doherty is hurting, but he is not hiding.