League Report: Shamrock Rovers 1 - 1 St Patrick's Athletic

Macdara Ferris reports from Tallaght Stadium

The new normal continued in Tallaght on Friday evening as the League of Ireland returned without spectators just like it had concluded last season and Shamrock Rovers played out a draw against St. Pat’s as they had done so twice in 2020.

However that doesn’t tell the story of the dramatic conclusion to this Dublin derby clash.  Incredibly it looked like the Saints were going to sneak an undeserved win as a Roberto Lopes’ own goal off a Robbie Benson shot put the visitors in front with two minutes remaining.

However the Hoops conjured up an equaliser a minute later, through  Aaron Greene, to save a point for Rovers and stretch out their unbeaten run in league action to 23 matches. The St. Pat’s goal was their first against the Hoops since May 2018.

Stephen O’Donnell will be very happy with how his team defended and Vitezslav Jaros in goal did what he had to do when he was called upon throughout the match. Besides from a couple of early St. Patrick’s Athletic corners, the Hoops dominated the opening 45 minutes without truly troubling Jaros. With St. Pat’s sitting deep, the Hoops looked to move the ball between the opposition but the visitors were quick to close down the champions.

Chris McCann was quick hitting raking cross field balls when he got the chance to try and get his team in behind Pat’s and as usual Graham Burke was eager to get a shot away when the chance arose. On 20 minutes McCann’s slide rule ball allowed Burke to shoot and force a save with his foot from Jaros. Three minutes later Hoops skipper had sight of goal but Ronan Finn blazed over the bar.

The tackles began to fly in and referee Rob Hennessy was close to losing control. While Lee Desmond went into the book for what looked like a clean tackle on Danny Mandroiu, Billy King was blessed not to get a yellow for a studs up challenge on Sean Hoare.

On the half hour mark, Burke had another couple of chances. For the first opportunity once again McCann was the provider and the second chance came after some intricate Rovers play involving Finn and Rory Gaffney, who was leading the Rovers line.

Just on half time, there was a mad scramble in the Saints box but the visitors were resolute and a couple of slashes later they got the ball cleared as the first half ended scoreless.

Liam Scales was the recipient of pinpoint McCann’s pass early in the second period that allowed him to take the ball down but unlike last week he didn’t shoot but laid the ball back to Burke who was wasteful with his effort.

Ten minutes into the second period the Saints did come out of their shells and put some pressure on the home team with two set pieces. Alan Mannus was called into action with his hands for the first time in the match soon after and he did superbly to push Matty Smith’s shot behind as he cut in from the left.

A quick Rovers break with substitute Aaron Greene on the left resulted in a Mandroiu shot that required a clearance off the line by Desmond. The Hoops new signing then stung Jaros’ hands with a right footed effort from distance.

Coughlan was lucky not to collect his second yellow card when he pulled back Mandroiu on the edge of the area and the resulting free kick saw Burke’s effort repelled by the ‘keeper diving low to his right. It was a save low to his left that saved his team with ten minutes remaining as Burke’s left foot effort looked destined for the bottom corner.

The late drama saw Benson cut in from the left and when he left fly the touch off Lopes beat Mannus. However the Hoops regrouped and Hoare’s cross from the right was superbly headed home for the Hoops by Greene to save the day – the third season in a row he had scored the opener for the Hoops in a new campaign.

Both teams will take positives from the game and certainly the champions didn’t want to start their defence of their title with a defeat but based on game overall they will feel that it was a case of two points dropped on the opening night.

Shamrock Rovers: Alan Mannus; Sean Hoare, Roberto Lopes, Joey O’Brien (Sean Kavanagh 71); Sean Gannon, Chris McCann, Ronan Finn © (Dylan Watts 70), Liam Scales; Graham Burke, Rory Gaffney (Aaron Greene 55), Daniel Mandroiu.

Subs not used: Leon Pohls (gk), Max Murphy, Conan Noonan, Gary O’Neill, Darragh Nugent, Dean Williams.

Booked: Sean Gannon (5).

St Patrick’s Athletic: Vitezslav Jaros; John Mountney, Lee Desmond, Paddy Barrett (Sam Bone 84), Shane Griffin; Billy King (Jason McClelland h/t), Chris Forrester, Robbie Benson ©, Jamie Lennon, Matty Smith; Ronan Coughlan,

Subs not used: Barry Murphy, Ian Bermingham, Darragh Burns, Nahum Melvin-Lambert, Josh Keely, Ben McCormack, Cian Kelly.

Booked: Ronan Coughlan (18), Lee Desmond (43), Shane Griffin (61)

Referee: Rob Hennessy.

Extratime.ie Player of the Match: Vitezslav Jaros (St. Patrick’s Athletic)