SHAMROCK ROVERS FANS will set off on a pre-match stroll from their historical home of Milltown to Tallaght Stadium before their team’s Airtricity match against Dundalk this evening.
Rovers played Sligo Rovers in the last game in Milltown on April 12, 1987. 25 years, and countless rental properties, later the current league champions have well and truly settled in Tallaght.
Gary Twigg, the Hoops’ leading scorer from the past two seasons, teamed up with Mick Byrne on Wednesday to promote the historical walk. Byrne was the last Rovers player to score a goal for the club before they vacated Milltown.
Twigg revealed that Wednesday’s visit to the monument was his first. It marks the site of Rovers old ground and is nestled among a residential estate. He commented:
I know how much it means to the fans and hopefully we can mark the occasion of their walk by putting on a performance (against Dundalk).
The walk starts at the Milltown monument at 5pm with a brief ceremony and then goes the 10km to Tallaght via Darty, Rathgar, Terenure, Templeogue and Spawell.
The club has encouraged its supporters to take part and adds that they join the route at any stage of the walk.
On-field matters
Rovers boss Stephen Kenny feels his squad need to respond with a top-class performance after losing 5-1 to St Patrick’s Athletic last Friday. He said:
It’s always important to respond to a defeat like that in a positive way, to roll our sleeves up and make sure that we’re willing to fight hard for each other on the night.
“We’ll need to work extremely hard to get the desired result against Dundalk and get that game against St Pat’s out of our system,” he added.
