Galway United 1 at Shelbourne 1 (League of Ireland Premier Division) - February 20, 2026

It's midwinter break at NYC schools, which means another trip to Europe. This time, we chose Ireland because flights were very cheap and I had never been before. We rented a car at Dublin airport and drove to Belfast over a couple of days. I had hoped to see a Belfast Giants hockey game at SSE Arena, only for the visiting team to have their flight cancelled due to weather and the game subsequently postponed. The arena is next to the Titanic museum where we spent the afternoon, so it wasn't out of our way, and I did get this picture of a giant puck in front of the Arena, but no venue in Northern Ireland.

So I had to wait until we returned to Dublin to finally add a venue from the Emerald Isle to my list. The League of Ireland consists of two divisions, with the Premier Division having ten teams, four of which are in the Dublin area (and one, Derry FC, who plays in Northern Ireland). All were in action on Friday evening, with Shelbourne the closest as their home ground of Tolka Park was just a 30-minute walk from my hotel in the center of the city.

I arrived about 30 minutes before kickoff and picked up a hard ticket for €21. There is one section of VIP seats that go for €45, but all other seats are general admission. Before entering, I read several displays about the club and the stadium, which had opened in 1924 but recently had been a potential target for demolition. A grassroots campaign prevented this and resulted in the club being granted a 250-year lease last November. It will be interesting to see how it looks in 2275.

There are four stands here, and unlike many soccer venues, you can walk around to all of them, at least those that are for the home fans. As well, you can stand at the west end about a meter from the touchline, which I did for the entire match.

Capacity is 5,750, with 4,052 on hand for this one, mostly sitting along the sides as you would expect. Above is the Richmond Road Stand, which is so named because it runs along Richmond Road, which you use to approach the stadium.

The Drumcondra stand (below), named for the suburb in which the stadium resides, is on the west side of the stadium. In front of here were a few concession stands and the team store.

The Riverside Stand is on the south side is called that because it runs along the Tolka River, from where the stadium gets its name. There are both seats and bleachers in this stand.

As is the case with stadiums built over a century ago, there are some obstructed view seats.

One part of the Riverside Stand is fenced off, which I assume is for visiting fans, though these days those fans are sat in the east stand, which is known as the Ballyborough Stand after the neighborhood behind it. Capacity for away supporters is 1,050.

Before the game, the fans held up red and white plastic sheets with the saying "The Love I Feel for You, You Know I'll Never Lose". I always appreciate seeing these traditions at games and know how the fans feel. It must have been very rewarding for their campaign to save the stadium to have succeeded.

Tolka Park may be over a century old but it's not going anywhere soon thanks to that campaign. If you happen to be in Dublin during the season, which starts in February and runs through October, pay a visit to see the Reds, one of the league's more successful sides.

The Game

This was just the second match of the season for both visitors Galway United and Shelbourne, though the latter had competed in the Europa Conference League, scoring zero goals in six group games and finishing 34th out of 36 clubs with just two points (as Tolka Park does not meet UEFA requirements, Shelbourne's matches were played at Tallaght Stadium, home of Shamrock Rovers). Overall, Irish domestic soccer is not very good, with none of the national team members playing in it.

The first half saw no shots on target for either team and obviously ended without a goal. In fact, all five league matches were scoreless at the half. A couple of yellow cards was the only excitement.

Approaching the midway point of the second half, Galway's David Hurley crossed into the box where Kris Twardek, a Toronto native who had a brief stint with Atletico Ottawa, slotted the ball through Wessel Speel's legs to open the scoring. Twardek celebrated with the Galway fans who had made the trip from the west side of Ireland.

Just after the restart, Shelbourne attacked and Rodrigo Freitas was clearly fouled in the box by Wasiri Williams, leading to a penalty. Harry Wood (below) did the honours and casually booted the ball past Evan Watts to tie things up at 1-1.

A few minutes later, Shelbourne's Kerr McInroy had a break but shot directly at Watts. Shelbourne continued to press and Maill Lundgren took a shot that was headed for the corner, but Watts made an excellent save to keep the match level.



Shelbourne had 69% possession but could not find the winner and the spoils were shared at full time. The only scoreboard was at the far end of the pitch so the photo is a bit blurry. Highlights can be found here.

It was a mildly entertaining game and I enjoyed walking back to my hotel, stopping at one of the many Irish pubs along the way.

Notes

Ireland is the 29th country in which I have seen a sporting event.

Best,

Sean