President's Cup Final Report: Shamrock Rovers 1 - 1 Dundalk (Dundalk win 4-3 on penalties)

Brendan Graham reports from Tallaght Stadium

Goalkeeper Alessio Abibi was the hero for Dundalk in the President’s Cup this evening leaving Dundalk 4-3 winners on penalties after a 1-1 draw over ninety minutes.

It was typical curtain raiser football in the opening five minutes with few chances at either end but plenty of crunching tackles in a lively first few minutes.

The first chance of note fell to Rovers after seven minutes when Rory Gaffney ran onto a perfectly weighted ping to the edge of the box by Sean Hoare.

Gaffney took it out wide before squaring across the box in an attempt to find Gannon but Abibi was sharp, snuffing out the pass.

The home side settled better into the game with efforts soon after from Chris McCann and Graham Burke - but both were from distance.

The home side’s positive start and constant pressure almost paid off when Liam Scales went agonisingly close with a headed effort from a Danny Mandroiu corner only to see his header come crashing back off the post and away from danger.

Junior was lively up front for the visitors and moving well but faced an uphill battle without any real service of note or support.

With minutes remaining in the opening half and completely against the run of play Dundalk took the lead from a set piece.

McEleney’s corner was met with an unstoppable header from towering defender Sonni Natttestad, leaving Mannus with no chance from point-blank range.

The second half was just two minutes old before Rovers were level thanks to a superb Liam Scales leveller.

The former UCD defender’s first touch and an even silkier flick over the head of Raivis Jurkovskis set himself up for a sumptuous strike that went into the bottom corner of the net.

The tide was slowly turning in favour of the hosts as the game progressed with the hour mark bringing with it a moment of real controversy.

First half goal scorer for Dundalk Nattestad was shown a straight red card by Damian MacGrath.

A rash lunge by the defender saw him bring Graham Burke down with a fierce tackle.

A chorus of roaring and noise from the side-lines followed the collision – with referee MacGraith then issuing no less than five cards.

Moments later, former Dundalk full-back Sean Gannon saw his cross turned shot clatter off the crossbar in an attempt that almost caught Abibi cold.

But the Dundalk shot stopper recovered well to ensure the game remained level into the final ten minutes.

Burke then stung the palms of Abibi as normal time ticked towards the 90^th minute with a low diagonal drive across the box but the league champions were kept at bay.

The match would then be decided by a straight penalty shootout that began tit-for-tat from the spot.

There were some converted penalties from both sides after an early miss from Greg Sloggett.

A combination of missed penalties from Andy Boyle and Hoops forward Burke left it all down to Roberto Lopes to keep the action going.

The impressive Abibi in the Dundalk goal pulled off a fantastic save at full stretch to ensure the President’s Cup would stay in Co. Louth for another year as Shane Keegan and co. landed their first blow of the 2021 season against Bradley’s Hoops.

Shamrock Rovers: Alan Mannus; Roberto Lopes, Sean Hoare, Sean Gannon, Joey O’Brien; Liam Scales, Chris McCann, Daniel Mandroiu (Aaron Greene 65), Ronan Finn (Dylan Watts 77); Rory Gaffney, Graham Burke

Subs not Used: Max Murphy, Adam Wells, Gary O’Neill, Leon Pohls, Dean Williams

Dundalk: Alessio Abibi; Sonni Nattestad, Darragh Leahy, Daniel Cleary, Andy Boyle; Chris Shields, Patrick McEleney (Greg Sloggett 65), Raivis Jurkovskis, Sam Stanton; Junior Ogedi - Uzokwe (Cameron Dummigan 83), David McMillan (Patrick Hoban 50).

Subs not Used: Jesus Perez, Ryan O’Kane, Ebuka Kwelele, Peter Cherrie, Mayowa Animasahun.

Referee: Damien MacGraith.

Extratime.ie Player of the Match: Alessio Abibi (Dundalk).