Hoops goalscorers hit the Town

Last Friday Shamrock Rovers boss Stephen Bradley handed 18-year-old Sean Boyd his first League of Ireland start and named Trevor Clarke, just 19 days younger than Boyd, for only the second time in the Hoops starting line up in the league. Both youngsters acquitted themselves well but it was two of the more experienced young members of the Rovers squad who proved the match winners in Tallaght Stadium against Longford Town.

It was a man-of-the-match performance for 20-year-old defender Sean Heaney. His delightfully floated ball over the top helped Brandon Miele, a year older than Heaney, to open the scoring on 29 minutes. The Rovers defence couldn’t keep a clean sheet, conceding three minutes from half time, but just before the hour mark Heaney was on hand to head home to earn the Hoops the win.

Extratime.ie chatted exclusively with both goalscorers after the win, a victory that leaves Stephen Bradley undefeated as manager with two wins and two draws.  The Rovers interim boss went with three at the back for the game against bottom side Longford Town.

“We worked on it during the week and it worked well,” said Heaney about the formation. “We decided to go with it and tonight it looked great. I thought we played nearly the best we’ve played on the ball all season.”

Heaney made his league debut for Rovers two years ago, with his goal in Bray making him the youngest league goalscorer for the Hoops for 25 years – that was until Trevor Clarke’s goal for Rovers against Galway earlier this season. Having spent a year on loan in 2015 with Shelbourne, Heaney returned to the Hoops at the start of this season and has started the last nine competitive games.   

“I’m delighted to score my first league goal since I’ve got in (this season). Delighted to get the goal, to be playing and to help the team out.”

Trevor Clarke won a second half corner from which Brandon Miele returned the favour to Heaney by supplying an excellent corner kick that the defender was able to head home the winner from.

“It is great for them,” said Heaney about Sean Boyd and Trevor Clarke being able to contribute to Rovers’ season. “There are so many great young players in and around the team and training with us every day. There is a few of them taking their chance and hopefully they can kick on.”

Friday’s win saw Rovers move three points behind third placed Derry City with two games in hand. With Dundalk’s surprise defeat leaves the gap between the champions and the Hoops at ten points.

“We are just trying to win as many games as possible. We still feel we can go and win the title. Dundalk lost tonight [against Galway}. Why can’t other teams do that? They have their Champions League to worry about. They will be dropping points so why can’t we push on for the league?”

The league trophy may just be beyond Rovers but they are still in both the FAI Cup and EA Sports Cup with a semi-final to come in the latter competition against St. Pat’s on Monday in Tallaght.

“It is a great chance to get to into a final and get a bit of silverware. It would be great for the young lads to experience that and try and get to a final. They will get more hungry for more medals.”

The win over Longford was Rovers first match in Tallaght since the dramatic 3-1 victory over Bohs last month. In that breathless game, Rovers won a penalty in the opening minute only for Brandon Miele to miss. The midfielder was thus unsurprisingly happy to score his sixth league goal of the season – making him joint top-scorer with Gary McCabe.

“Thank God - It has been a while!” said Miele who last scored in the 2-0 away win against St. Pat’s just prior to the mid-season break. “I’m delighted to get the goal. I could have got a couple of more. I’m glad that I scored the goal off the assist from Sean and I’m happy he got a goal as well.

“It was a great night for team. We did concede the goal but we always knew we’d come back if we kept the tempo up. We did and we got the goal back and it was a great win for us.

“It is a tough formation to play,” said Miele about the system deployed against Longford. “You have to get it right with three at the back. The boys in midfield along with the wing backs have to talk to everyone to get it right.

“Trevor [Clarke] is a great player. He is very quick and he can exploit space. Playing as a wing back he got lots of the ball. Him and Simon [Madden] suit that position really well.”

Miele stated that he was “happy” for Dundalk on their recent European progression which saw them beat BATE Borisov in Tallaght Stadium earlier in the week.  “They deserved every thing they are getting”.

However, Miele wasn’t making any predictions on where Rovers will finish in the league. “We just need to get momentum going and keep positive. Keep the tempo in the game and be consistent every week.”