Shamrock Rovers 2-0 UCD
FOR SHAMROCK ROVERS, it was very much a case of all’s well that ends well. In need of a response after Friday night’s defeat on Leeside, the Hoops thoroughly dominated in a win that sees them rejoin Cork and Dundalk on level points at the top of the table.
It wasn’t until Ryan Brennan curled home a superb second four minutes from the end that the game was made safe though, and on another night, Rovers might have been left to reflect on string of missed chances and some inspired goalkeeping.
Before Ronan Finn broke the deadlock in the 57th minute, they had hit the woodwork three times, forced a couple of top-class saves from UCD keeper Conor O’Donnell, and spurned a number of gilt-edged chances.
Stephen McPhail made his first start of the season, sitting as a playmaker in front of the back four, and his measured touches started most of Rovers’ attacks with Finn and the lively Gary McCabe directing traffic further up the field.
It was Finn who came closest early on, rattling the bar from 25 yards out in the 10th minute, while Sean O’Connor struck the left post with a low shot from outside the area that had O’Donnell beaten just before the half-hour mark.
McCabe made it a perfect set in the 34th minute when he hit the right post from five yards out, and then followed up by firing his rebound into the side netting.
O’Donnell ensured it was scoreless at the break when he got down brilliantly to claw Jason McGuinness’s header out of the bottom left corner, and he held Rovers at bay again in the 55th minute when he spread himself to deny McCabe a certain goal.
On a night like tonight, a clean sheet would have been a miracle although centre-halves Tomas Boyle and Hugh Douglas did their part as Rovers peppered the box with crosses.
There was little they could do though when Finn broke in off the right wing and arrowed in the opening goal. O’Donnell was very nearly the hero again but the pace took it off the top of his hands and into the top corner.
For all their dominance, Rovers couldn’t quite kill the game off and there was a niggling sense among the home fans that UCD might snatch a point, not least when Barry Murphy had to deny Chris Mullhall in a one-on-one.
But Brennan sealed the points in style, curling his shot past a helpless O’Donnell from 25 yards.
SHAMROCK ROVERS: Murphy, Madden, Kenna (c), McGuinness, Byrne, McCabe (Sheppard 89), Brennan, McPhail, Finn (Bayly 89), O’Connor (Waters 78), Kilduff.
Substitutes: Hyland, Cornwall, Waters, Kelly, Bayly, Sheppard, Zayed.
UCD: O’Donnell, Matthews, Boyle, Douglas, Barker, Clarke (Belhout 78), Burke (Kavanagh 68), Creevy, Benson (c), Mulhall (O’Halloran 75).
Substitutes: McGinley, Kavanagh, Scott, Wilson, Crowe, Belhout, O’Halloran.
Referee: Graham Kelly.
