Shelbourne boss Ian Morris: 'I think we still have a couple of gears to go up'

Shelbourne boss Ian Morris has said that he is hopeful that his side are starting to move up the gears following their 1-0 win over Wexford on Friday evening.

The Reds drew their opening two league games of the season – before they secured a hard-fought win over the Slaneysiders.

And following their success at Tolka, Morris was pleased with the win, but did concede his side are still moving through the gears – especially with a number of new arrivals at the club.

“I think we were good value for our win,” he told extratime.com on Friday night. “We had a lot of chances in the game.

“Wexford sat in and tried to sit and hit us on the counter and to be fair they did that really well.

“They made a couple of clearances and landed on them to make a few yards up the pitch.

“They’re a very good side. Brian (O’Sullivan) and Harry (Kenny) have done well with their organisation and they’re an attacking threat.

“We had to make sure we were right at the back for that. Clean sheets are huge and that’s our main positive. Three points at home, clean sheet and we move onto the next game.”

He added: “The lads were good but there’s things we’ll need to improve and tidy up on. I still think we have a couple of gears to go up.

“I think we can be better in possession, but the lads were good tonight in patches.



“They moved the ball well and created chances. The chances are going to start hitting the back of the net soon and we’ll begin to beat teams with a lot more ease.”

So far, Shels have played ten of their new recruits in their opening three league games – and Morris admits this is arguably the strongest crop of players he has had at his disposal to date.

“I think we have some really good players in here this year,” he said.

“When you have time, and you have a chance to evolve and build that’s what happens. It doesn’t just happen overnight.

“We’ve got some really good hungry players this year and we’ve got a young squad.

“We’ve a lot of good young players in there that have developed over the last few years as well.”



However, Morris will not be getting carried away after an unbeaten start to the season – and he also stressed that the outside noise about his side is nothing that concerns him.

“We’re three games in and after six games the last time we were in this league people were talking about this that and the other and we then went on a 14 or 15 game run,” he finished.

“Putting together a few wins in a row changes everything and I wouldn’t be reading anything into it.

“I won’t be looking at the table for the first few weeks because it’s irrelevant at this stage of the season.”

He adds: “I’m used to (the outside noise) now. There has been pressure in different ways in every season the last three years.

“It’s nothing – you’ve got to ignore the outside and the noise, and what other people speak. We just have to knuckle down, keep doing what we’re doing and start putting results on the board.”