League Report: Shamrock Rovers 2 - 0 Derry City

Pat Fenlon oversaw a 2-0 victory over Derry City in Tallaght stadium on Friday night in his first game in charge of Shamrock Rovers.

The press box was jam packed by 7.15 pm in anticipation of what impact, if any, Fenlon could have on the team he inherited from Trevor Croly. It wasn't just the press box that filled up as fans began to trundle into the stadium following the new manager's midweek plea for fans to fill the seats.

Surprisingly, it was a quite subdued atmosphere in the stadium as the match kicked off. It seemed to be a continuation of what Tallaght Stadium has witnessed in the latter stages of Croly's reign. The Rover's fans clearly wanted the players to offer them something to sing about. It took a long time for that to happen.

Although it was a slow start to the match, the Candystripes did begin the better of the two sides. They manufactured the first chance of the match after eight minutes. Stephen Dooley picked the ball up wide and drove at Luke Byrne who wasn't strong enough for the Derry wide man on that occasion, brushing him aside before pulling the ball back to Michael Duffy who went for the near post to squander a good opportunity.

14 minutes had passed when the ball broke to Patrick McEleney on the bounce and he wasted no time in attempting an audacious lob causing Barry Murphy to scramble rapidly back to his goal to tip the ball wide.

Despite Derry's two half chances the match still couldn't get any flow or rhythm. Conor Kenna and Jason McGuiness were constantly attempting diagonal passes from defence which were getting them nowhere. They appeared to realise this as they then stopped even looking for the ball short from Barry Murphy.

Fenlon will have been a relieved man when his side finally got their first shot on goal in the 37th minute. Brennan showed his strength to win the ball back in midfield before Shane Robinson distributed a swift pass into Ronan Finn who turned Barry McNamee and passed to Simon Madden who crossed deep to Dean Kelly who then headed the ball wide.

The match was starting to come to life now and two minutes later Derry created another chance thanks to a beautiful defence splitting pass from Dooley to find Rory Patterson who had peeled away from Conor Kenna. However, Kenna managed to rectify his mistake as he forced Patterson wide meaning he could only shoot straight at Murphy. The rebound fell to the usually clinical Michael Duffy but his attempt at bending the ball into the far corner flashed by the post.

As we entered into injury time in the first half Peter Hutton will have been pleased with his teams approach play next as his side kept the ball patiently with one and two touch passes. You could sense there was going to be a chance at the end of the play as the Rovers players tried in vain to get anywhere near their Derry counterparts. McNamee injected a bit more speed into the attack playing the ball into Patterson who flicked it into the feet of Duffy who again attempted to curl the ball into the far corner and yet again missing by little.

The second half started in the same slow and laboured fashion. It took a rash challenge from Mark Timlin on Ryan Brennan directly in front of the Rover's dugout to get the Hoops players and fans fired up. 

The opening goal came on the 61st minute. A superb cross to the back post from Kieran Marty Waters allowed Dean Kelly to head the ball back across goal to Ronan Finn who nodded the ball into the top corner. A perfect finish from the industrious midfielder.

Following a Derry corner after 68 minutes, Rovers displayed super counter attacking football. Finn fed Kelly who held off a couple of challenges before allowing Brennan to find Gary McCabe. McCabe ran at the Derry defence beating Danny Ventre with ease and firing into the side netting.

The Hoops were well and truly on top now and the second goal came from the in-form Dean Kelly in the 70th minute. This time Kelly and Finn switched roles as Finn set up Kelly. Finn took on Derry's Aaron Barry, beating him, before floating the ball to the back post to find Kelly in complete freedom and head in a simple finish.

Pat Fenlon will be happier with the result than the performance of his team but, after all, he has only just arrived.

Shamrock Rovers: Barry Murphy; Simon Madden, Conor Kenna, Jason McGuinness, Luke Byrne; Shane Robinson, Ryan Brennan, Ronan Finn (Robert Bayly 73); Kieran Marty Waters (Karl Sheppard 66), Dean Kelly, Gary McCabe (Sean O'Connor 86).
Subs not used: Craig Hyland (gk), Rob Cornwall, David O' Connor, Stephen McPhail, Sean O'Connor.

Booked: Brennan (73).

Derry City: Gerard Doherty; Danny Ventre, Ryan McBride, Mark Timlin (Dean Jarvis 80), Aaron Barry; Stephen Dooley, Barry McNamee, Philip Lowry, Michael Duffy, Patrick McEleney (Ryan Curran 75); Rory Patterson (Josh Tracey).
Subs not used: Ciaran Gallagher (gk), Shaun Kelly, Shane McEleney, Cliff Byrne.

Booked: Patterson (38), Timlin (51), Lowry (54), Ventre (90)

Referee: David McKeon

Attendance: 4,000 (estimate)

Extratime.ie Man of The Match: Ronan Finn (Shamrock Rovers)