League Report: Derry City 0-1 Shamrock Rovers

Shamrock Rovers continued their run towards the summit of the Premier division with a well deserved victory over Derry City at the Brandywell on Friday evening.

Roddy Collins sprung a raft of shocks before the start of the game, dispensing with the services of over half his team and promoting players from the reserve and youth teams to the starting line up. Also conspicuous by his absence was assistant manager Peter Hutton amidst rumours of disharmony in the camp on Foyleside.

Collins chose to start with Nathan Boyle, Tony McNamee, Cormac Burke, Enda Curran and Roddy Collins Jr making it a very inexperienced line up to be facing a team of the proven pedigree of the Dubliners.

The game itself proved to be quite a dull affair with neither side creating much in the way of clear cut chances. Derry had the first half chance when Tony McNamee squared the ball to Enda Curran who spun and shot wide. Two minutes later at the other end Stephen McPhail cut a free kick back to Gary McCabe but he blasted well wide.

The game was mainly being played in the midfield area and it was out of the blue in the 34th minute when the visitors took the lead. And what a strike it was. Gary McCabe  picked the ball up 40 yards from goal and dribbled forwards before unleashing an unstoppable 25 yard shot that gave Gerard Doherty no chance.

Two minutes later some great interplay between Enda Curran and Barry McNamee ended with the latter shooting wide when it seemed easier to score.

Rovers almost doubled their lead in the 43rd minute but for some superb defending by Barry Molloy. A corner was fizzed in and headed out towards Karl Sheppard whose shot looked certain to go in until Molloy stuck a foot out on the line. The ball rebounded out to McCabe and again Molloy hacked off his own line.

The second half was, if anything, even more incident free than the first. Barring a penalty shout in the 54th minute for Rovers when McCabe went down in the box there was very little for either keeper to as Derry tried hard to get back in the game but just lacked the quality and/or experience to trouble the well drilled opposition, who were just happy to play on the counter attack and protect their lead.

The final whistle was met with a chorus of boos from the home supporters who seen to be becoming increasingly frustrated by what they see as some very strange decisions from Roddy Collins. Make no mistake these are turbulent times on Foyleside and sooner or later something will have to give. For his part Trevor Croly will be delighted to have collected another three points to keep the pressure on the league leaders.

Derry City: Gerard Doherty; Roddy Collins, Cliff Byrne (c), Ryan McBride, Aaron Barry; Cormac Burke, Barry Molloy, Barry McNamee (Mark Stewart 72), Tony McNamee; Enda Curran (Michael Duffy 65), Nathan Boyle (Ryan Curran 77).
Subs not used: Ciaran Gallagher, Dean Jarvis, Danny Ventre, David Elebert.

Booked: C Byrne (3), Molloy (71), Burke (89).

Shamrock Rovers: Barry Murphy; Simon Madden, Jason McGuinness, Conor Kenna (c), Luke Byrne; Gary McCabe, Stephen McPhail (Ryan Brennan 83), Shane Robinson, Kieran Marty Waters; Karl Sheppard, Ciaran Kilduff.
Subs not used: Craig Hyland (gk), Robert Cornwall, Sean O'Connor, David O'Connor, Robert Bayly, Dean Kelly.

Booked: Robinson (40).

Referee: Tomas Connolly.

Attendance: 1,300 (estimate).

ExtraTime.ie Man of the Match: Gary McCabe (Shamrock Rovers)