Galway United and Shelbourne stretched their unbeaten starts to the season in a 1-1 draw at Eamonn Deacy Park.
It was an even start to proceedings, with the reigning Premier Division champions dictating possession without creating many meaningful chances against a well-organised defence.
After a cagey opening 10 minutes, the first opportunity of the game fell to Shels' John Martin, who timed his run well to get on the end of a Mipo Odubeko through ball, but the striker was unable to test Brendan Clarke from a difficult angle.
John Caulfield’s side grew into the contest and came close to taking the lead through a delightful inswinging Regan Donelon free-kick as Conor Kearns did just enough to keep the ball out of the net.
United striker Stephen Walsh, who made his 292nd league appearance for United to equal the club record, was well marshalled by the Shels defence while the in-form Patrick Hickey couldn’t manufacture a clear-cut sight of goal.
After an uneventful first half, the encounter came to life in the 52nd minute. Evan Caffrey stung the United net with a powerful header, following a pin-point looping cross to the back post by Harry Wood to send the away fans into a frenzy.
Straight from the restart, the Tribesmen were almost level when substitute Moses Dyer was close to making an immediate impact, but his close-range attempt was bravely stopped by Kearns.
A few minutes later, Kearns had to be alert once again to keep out a long-range Vince Borden strike.
But from the resulting corner kick, the Shels shot-stopper was eventually beaten as Donelon’s whipped corner kick deflected off Martin and into his own net to level the match in the 58th minute.
As the equaliser looked as if it had been controversially ruled out by the linesman, the referee pointed to the halfway line to give the goal.
Following the dramatic exchanges, Shels settled back into the game and created a few openings as the game progressed into the latter stages.
Clarke was forced to demonstrate his reflexes to deny a Paddy Barrett header while the experienced United number one had to be sharp to stop the following corner kick.
Damien Duff's side were eventually left frustrated as the Tribesmen held firm until the final whistle to earn a point in front of their home support.
Galway United: Clarke; Byrne, Donelon (Burns 73), Slevin, Brouder; Walsh (Dyer 53), Cunningham, Hickey (Hurley 90), Borden (McCarthy 90), Keohane (Tollett 90); Esua.
Shelbourne FC: Kearns; Ledwidge, Chapman, Lunney (Coyle 73), Wood (Coote 79); Martin (McInroy 73), Odubeko (Boyd 62), Norris, Temple, Caffrey; Barrett.
Referee: Rob Hennessy.
