League Report: Shamrock Rovers 0 - 1 Dundalk
Credit:
Patrick Hoban’s second half strike silenced Tallaght Stadium and sent Dundalk back to the top of the Premier Division table against a below-par Shamrock Rovers outfit on Sunday afternoon. The Galway man struck on 66 minutes to give the Lilywhites their third win in four games against the Hoops this season.
The start was broken up by an incredible number of fouls, nine in the opening 10 minutes, and a booking to go with it for Jason McGuinness, with the home side continually surrendering cheap possession.
As such there was little real flow to the match in the opening half. Unsurprisingly, dead balls were proving to be the easiest avenues to goal with Patrick Hoban bringing an easy save out of Rovers’ keeper Barry Murphy and McGuinness heading over the Dundalk bar from free kicks.
Rovers striker Dean Kelly did try his luck from a tight angle with a quick shot on the right following Eamon Zayed’s cutback but the effort was always going wide, as was an intelligent Massey pass at the other end that Kurtis Byrne failed to connect with by the slimmest of margins.
As the foul count continued to rise, so too did the frustration in both dugouts. Simon Madden got forward well and cut in on to his left but the local man’s effort sailed into old teammate Peter Cherrie’s arms.
The Scotsman was quick out of his goal to cut out the threat of Zayed after Chris Shields’ slack header back but the goalkeeper was retreating behind his goal to retrieve the ball when Ryan Brennan tamely headed Gary McCabe’s free kick wide.
It took until the last action of the half for the best chance to arrive when Dundalk finally got a neat passing move going, Hoban curling the ball wide for Darren Meenan who set up the onrushing Richie Towell but he was denied by a strong stop from Murphy.
The second half started in a similar vein, albeit with less fouls, but with the same tension in the general play and each side defending comfortably, restricted chances to a premium, Daryl Horgan and Brian Gartland sending efforts over the top.
Rovers were not without chances too but they were all few and far between, until a lucky break on 66 minutes. The ball fell favourably for Meenan midway between halfway and the Rovers goal where he picked out Byrne on the right. Byrne then sent the most enticing of low balls to the back post where Hoban pounced to notch his 10th league goal of the campaign.
With 15 minutes to go, Dundalk should have been 2-0 in front when Towell found himself in front of Murphy with just the goalkeeper to beat after a quite sublime ball over the top from debutant Donal McDermott, but the former Bohs keeper stuck out his left hand to save and then clawed it off the line as the ball bounced back towards his goal.
Rovers did push Dundalk back in pursuit of an equaliser, substitute Ciaran Kilduff blasting a volley over the top after beating the offside trap, while Hoban shaved the post for the Lilwyhites with five minutes to go with a volley of his own.
That miss mattered little nine minutes later when Paul McLaughlin’s whistle sounded to signal the end of a brilliant Dundalk victory, only their second ever in the league against Rovers in Tallaght Stadium.
Shamrock Rovers: Barry Murphy; Simon Madden, Conor Kenna (c), Jason McGuinness, David O’Connor; Ronan Finn, Ryan Brennan (Robert Bayly 79), Shane Robinson, Gary McCabe (Sean O’Connor 63); Eamon Zayed, Dean Kelly (Ciaran Kilduff 71).
Subs not used: Craig Hyland (gk), Evan Osam, Luke Byrne, Kieran Marty Waters.
Booked: McGuinness (5), Robinson (27), McCabe (42).
Dundalk: Peter Cherrie; Sean Gannon, Brian Gartland, Andy Boyle, Dane Massey; Chris Shields, Richie Towell; Darren Meenan (John Mountney 90), Kurtis Byrne (Ruaidhri Higgins 83), Daryl Horgan (Donal McDermott 58); Patrick Hoban.
Subs not used: Gabriel Sava (gk), Simon Kelly, Mark Rossiter, Marc Griffin, .
Booked: Shields (25).
Referee: Paul McLaughlin
Attendance: 2,811
Extratime.ie Man of the Match: Chris Shields (Dundalk)
