SHAMROCK ROVERS SEEM determined to win this year’s league title under their own handicapping system, playing half of this game with 10 men and yet still beating Dundalk 2-0.
This was Rovers’ seventh red card of the season already and while some of them have been fraught and others unfair, Ronan Finn’s sending off four minutes after half-time for a last-man foul on Rayhaan Tulloch was uncontroversial.
Rovers led 1-0 at the time but – gallingly for their opponents – were the better side in the quarter-hour after Finn’s sending off and rather than merely defend their lead, they doubled it, Aaron Greene scoring his second of the game.
Coupled with Derry’s draw with Shelbourne, this result put Rovers back on top of the league.
Stephen Bradley revealed yesterday that he considered walking away from football after his horrifying experience at Turner’s Cross last week, where he was assailed by chants from a couple of Cork fans mocking his son’s illness.
The rest of the Irish football community rallied around Bradley and his family in the aftermath and the Rovers support voiced all of that solidarity in the second minute of this game, with chants of ‘There is only one Josh Bradley’, ringing around the ground.
Dundalk, meanwhile, began aggressively, pressing high and causing Rovers mild discomfort but nothing more. Darragh Leahy went down in the box after some contact from Ronan Finn, but Leahy sprang quickly to his feet and only the travelling Dundalk fans brought any intensity to the shouts for penalty.
Rovers initially struggled to pick through Dundalk’s high press but eventually figured it out, perhaps helped by a quick touchline debrief with Bradley during a first-half injury stoppage. As Rovers control of the game grew, Nathan Shepperd did his best to quell them alone. When Aaron Greene pounced on a clumsy slip by Hayden Muller and rounded Shepperd he would have been forgiven for planning his goal celebration. It ultimately didn’t get that far, as Shepperd miraculously clawed the ball from Greene’s feet before he could score.
Shepperd then skated quickly off his line to block Markus Poom’s shot after the midfielder was sent through by a delightful, prodded pass from Jack Byrne. Shepperd was eventually undone at the end of a flowing Rovers move 10 minutes before half-time. The goal began on one flank and was delivered from the other: Sean Kavanagh feeding the ball into Rory Gaffney’s feet, who then spun the ball out wide right to Ronan Finn, whose low driven cross was turned in by Greene.
Dundalk spent the first-half looking like they might need a force majeure to score and that came just four minutes into the second half. The mistake was Roberto Lopes’, whose errant back pass was pounced upon by Tulloch, who sprinted down on Pohls’ goal. The backtracking Ronan Finn dived in and fouled Tulloch just before he reached the box. There was no penalty but there was a straight red card for Finn – Rovers’ fourth red card in two games and seventh of the season.
Okay, write your own gags about Rovers having long-since learned how to play with 10 men but they dealt with the red card far better than the team it was supposed to benefit. Gaffney and Greene constantly exploited Dundalk’s high defensive line, with Gaffney forcing a corner which descended into a defensive shambles from Dundalk’s point of view, needing Pat Hoban to clear Daniel Cleary’s snapshot off the line. Stephen O’Donnell readied Keith Ward and Alfie Lewis but Dundalk were 2-0 down by the time they made it onto the pitch. Gaffney sent Greene scampering into acres of space behind the Dundalk defence and while he again rounded Shepperd, this time he scored.
Byrne and the outstanding Gaffney were withdrawn with 15 minutes remaining, at which point Rovers were content to defend their lead. Keith Ward fired over from the edge of the box, while Tulloch fluffed Dundalk’s best chance of the night when, unmarked, he planted Davies’ cross at Pohls.
Dundalk continued to push, and Cleary reacted brilliantly to clear an effort off the line.
Dundalk appealed for a late penalty when Malley appeared to be pushed in the back by Gary O’Neill in stoppage time, but referee Paul McLaughlin was unmoved. Cleary captured Rovers’ tenacity in the final minute, recklessly hurling himself at Davies’ driven shot from range.
There was a general resolve about Rovers tonight that does not augur well for the pretenders to their crown.
Shamrock Rovers: Leon Pohls; Roberto Lopes, Lee Grace, Daniel Cleary; Ronan Finn (captain); Gary O’Neill, Markus Poom; Sean Kavanagh (Sean Gannon, 62’); Jack Byrne (Liam Burt, 75’); Aaron Greene (Kieran Cruise, 86’), Rory Gaffney (Darragh Nugent, 75’)
Dundalk: Nathan Shepperd; Archie Davis, Andy Boyle, Connor Malley, Hayden Muller (Cameron Elliott 70’), Darragh Leahy; Paul Doyle (Alfie Lewis, 62’), Greg Sloggett (Keith Ward, 62’), Connor Malley; Rayhaan Tulloch, Pat Hoban (captain), Daniel Kelly (Ryan O’Kane, 70’)
Referee: Paul McLaughlin
Attendance: 5602
Written by Gavin Cooney and posted on the42.ie
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