Football: OLLIE SOUNDS THE CALL

OLLIE CAHILL has throw down the gauntlet to Shelbourne's title rivals: Catch us if you can.

Shels are a whopping 11 points clear of arch Dublin rivals Bohemians following the 3-0 win against Drogheda United at Tolka Park on Friday, but the former Cork wideman is refusing to write the defending champions out of the title equation just yet.

Cahill netted Shelbourne's second goal - a superb right-foot curler - at the Drumcondra venue, the first time he has netted in successive league games for 11 months.

But he claims Bohs, inactive this weekend because of Shamrock Rovers' InterToto Cup tie today in the Czech Republic, are still in there with a very real shout.

As things stand Shels are six points clear of second-placed Cork, 4-1 winners against Longford Town at Turner's Cross on Friday, with Bohs really struggling of late.

He said: "It's always nice to be top and, naturally, we're happy with the way things are going right now, but the situation can change quickly.

"With St Pat's drawing in Derry on Thursday and Bohs and (Shamrock) Rovers without a game we knew we had a great chance to open up a bit of a gap - and we did. Admittedly Rovers have a couple of games in hand of us but we would rather have the points in the bag. It's up to the other teams to try and catch us now - if they can."

Cahill netted on 75 minutes having also scored a peach in the midweek 2-0 win in Longford.

He added: "I'm not noted as much of a goalscorer so two in two games is a very good return for me.

"But it's important myself and the rest of the lads take some of the burden off Jason [Byrne] and Stephen [Geoghegan]. They can't be expected to score every game.

"But no one is getting carried away on the strength of a win against Drogheda. There's still such a long way to go. It was a decent performance and there's still a lot more in the tank but I wouldn't write anyone off at this stage."

It might have been a different story had Andy Myler not missed a penalty to equalise. Shels boss Pat Fenlon admitted: "If they had scored it would have been a lot tougher. A lot swung on the penalty miss. To be fair to them they had a lot of the ball but we were very professional. It was like Longford again - we dug out the result. We were very hard to break down and that's a good sign."

Cork's win over Longford may have come at a bit of a price with 11- goal striker John O'Flynn, the Division's leading marksman, doubtful for the League Cup semi-final against St Pat's at Richmond Park in Inchicore on Tuesday after injuring his ankle.

Meanwhile, Wayne Fitzgerald's last-gasp equaliser gave Waterford a 1-1 draw and denied UCD their first away win of the season.

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