Derry City beaten by Shels after floodlight delay
Derry City suffered a 3-1 defeat at the hands of Shelbourne after Tiernan Lynch's first game in charge of the Candystripes was interrupted by a power failure at Tolka Park.
Sean Boyd opened and rounded out the scoring, with Derry's Michael Duffy briefly bringing his side level before Evan Caffrey struck back almost immediately.
After Boyd earned and converted a penalty to see the home side lead 3-1 at the break, the match didn't restart for an hour due to a power cut in the stadium.
The result already seemed a formality and Derry failed to threaten the Shelbourne lead when the action resumed.
City were locked in a two-horse race for the title with Shelbourne for the majority of last season before fading away, finishing outside of the European places entirely in fourth and Lynch was quickly given a taste of the task at hand on Foyleside.
Boyd punished Sam Todd's poor clearance and opened the scoring catching Derry goalkeeper Brian Maher out with a first-time effort from range.
The three meetings prior at Tolka Park all ended in a draw and on 14 minutes the Candystripes responded superbly to restore parity.
Debutant Dom Thomas slung in a beautifully flighted cross and Duffy got big at the back post to guide in a header.
The sides were level for less than a minute, though.
Caffrey latched on to Boyd's knock down and sent a fearsome strike into the bottom left corner from the edge of the box.
Heroic defending from Todd initially denied the champions from adding a third at the half-hour mark but the City centre-back ultimately gifted the hosts the opportunity to increase their lead moments before half-time when he left a leg in on Boyd just inside the area.
Shels' top scorer from last season stepped up himself and despite slipping on the follow through, slid the penalty past Maher.
Due to a power outage at Tolka Park, the game took an hour to commence, but new signing Mipo Odubeko offered a genuine spark as Shelbourne sought a fourth goal in the second half.
The former Fleetwood Town man had a trio of chances around the hour, the closest of which came back off the foot of the post.
The possible frailties in the Foylesiders' backline were discussed before the game and were somewhat exposed in Drumcondra.
Another last-ditch block from Todd in the last quarter spared Derry's blushes while at the other end they never threatened to reduce Shelbourne's advantage.
After defeat on opening night for the former Larne boss Lynch his side will entertain Bohemians in his first home game in charge next Friday night at the Ryan McBride Brandywell Stadium.
