![\"23](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/00235e01-614.jpg\"\/)
\nMilan Mbeng and Wessel Speel react after the injury time defeat <\/p>\n
A cruel own goal in stoppage time denied Shelbourne a deserved draw at the National Arena in Skopje as North Macedonians Shkendija snatched a 1-0 win at the death.<\/p>\n
The League of Ireland champions were worthy of a share of the spoils, the width of a post having earlier deprived substitute John Martin giving them a lead that wouldn’t have flattered them.<\/p>\n
But with the clock into the second minute of added time, failure to defend a corner came back to haunt Joey O\u2019Brien\u2019s side.<\/p>\n
Sebastian Spahiu\u2019s delivery wasn\u2019t cleared, allowing Jamaica international Ronaldo Webster to get on the ball inside the area.<\/p>\n
The low cross was then turned into his own net by off-balanced central defender Paddy Barrett.<\/p>\n
The frustrating failure to build on their draw with Swedish side Hacken in their opening match meant Shelbourne drop into the elimination places in the 36-team table, ahead of more testing games to come, most notably against Crystal Palace, AZ Alkmaar and Celje.<\/p>\n
\nMilan Mbeng and Wessel Speel react after the injury time defeat <\/p>\n
With Barrett back from a two-match domestic suspension and skipper Mark Coyle back in from the start alongside him in a back three, Shelbourne\u2019s stall looked set up to be one of containment.<\/p>\n
But far from it as they echoed the words of head coach O\u2019Brien in demanding they start positively.<\/p>\n
That they did, as Kerr McInroy had a shot headed clear by Imran Fetai inside the opening minute.<\/p>\n
Shkendija were then stretched by Barrett\u2019s diagonal ball to James Norris on the left and his cross saw Milan Mbeng\u2019s header held by goalkeeper Baboucarr Gaye.<\/p>\n
Even though that attack was flagged offside, the early signs were promising for the visitors, who were taking the game to their hosts.<\/p>\n
As with Norris on the left, Mbeng was proving a threat down Shelbourne\u2019s right flank, his pace troubling Webster.<\/p>\n
It was 29 minutes before Shkendija threatened, Senegalese winger Fabrice Tamba failing to make the most of the time and space he had in blasting high over the crossbar.<\/p>\n
A free kick moments later brought a further threat as Shelbourne failed to clear before Alekansder Trumci\u2019s pull back was toed out for a corner by Wessel Speel.<\/p>\n
The Shelbourne goalkeeper then had to be brave minutes later when getting out promptly to win a free kick in thwarting Liridon Latifi.<\/p>\n
Having grown slowly into the game, Shkendija enjoyed their first spell of possession as half-time approached, though without really troubling Shelbourne, who kept their shape well in what was an evenly contested opening half.<\/p>\n
![\"Skopje](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/00235e00-614.jpg\"\/)
\nLiridon Latifi and Adamu Alhassan of KF Shkendija stop Shelbourne’s Jack-Henry Francis in his tracks<\/p>\n
Clearly unhappy with their first-half showing, Shkendija coach Jeton Bekjiri made two changes ahead of the resumption to give his side more impetus.<\/p>\n
It worked as they restarted full of energy and invention as Spahiu, one of their substitutes, made space in off the left flank to rifle a shot wide.<\/p>\n
Shelbourne responded, pouncing on a misplaced pass in midfield. Harry Wood surged forward, worked a one-two with Mipo Odubeko, only to get under his shot.<\/p>\n
O\u2019Brien freshened up his attack on the hour, with San Boyd and Martin on for Odubeko and Wood.<\/p>\n
The tenacity of Martin made an immediate impact, as he came inches from giving Shelbourne the lead on 65 minutes.<\/p>\n
Having first won the free kick when fouled by Fetai, the striker met McInroy\u2019s arced set-piece only to see his firm header come back off a post and into the arms of Gaye, who was rooted to the spot.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately for Shelbourne that was to be the highlight of their night.<\/p>\n
An injury to Boyd meant they had to play out the last six minutes or so with 10 men before the sting in the tail of Shkendija\u2019s late winner.<\/p>\n
Shkendija: <\/b>Baboucarr Gaye; Aleksander Trumci, Imran Fetai, Klisman Cake, Ronaldo Webster; Arbin Zejnullai (Reshat Ramadani h-t), Adamu Alhassan (Kamer Qaka 70); Fabrice Tamba (Vane Krstevski 77), Endrit Krasniqi (Fiton Ademi 88), Liridon Latifi (Sebastjan Spahiu h-t); Bejart Ibraimi.<\/p>\n
Shelbourne: <\/b>Wessel Speel; Milan Mbeng, Mark Coyle, Paddy Barrett, Kameron Ledwidge, James Norris (Daniel Kelly 74); JJ Lunney, Kerr McInroy (Ali Coote 82); Harry Wood (John Martin 60), Jack Henry-Francis (Evan Caffrey 82); Mipo Odubeko (Sean Boyd 60).<\/p>\n
Referee:<\/b> Stefan Ebner (Austria).<\/p>\n
\n
Listen to the RT\u00c9 Soccer podcast on Apple Podcasts<\/a>, Spotify<\/a> or wherever you get your podcasts<\/a>.<\/b><\/p>\n Watch Republic of Ireland v Belgium in the UEFA Women’s Nations League play-offs on Friday from 6.30pm on RT\u00c92 and RT\u00c9 Player. Follow a live blog on the RT\u00c9 News App and on rte.ie\/sport. Listen to live radio commentary on an extended Game On with 2fm<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A cruel own goal in stoppage time denied Shelbourne a deserved draw at the National Arena in Skopje…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":141271,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[76],"tags":[18,19,17,132],"class_list":{"0":"post-141270","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-eire","9":"tag-ie","10":"tag-ireland","11":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115425348786742116","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141270","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=141270"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141270\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/141271"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=141270"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=141270"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=141270"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}