Shamrock Rovers suffer first league defeat in 606 days as record run comes to an end

The record league unbeaten run ended for Shamrock Rovers in Oriel Park last night - the venue where they had also last suffered a league defeat. 

The Hoops lost 2-1 away to Dundalk on Friday night so they couldn’t extend their run of 33 league games without a loss – a sequence which began following a 3-2 defeat in Oriel Park in September 2019 on the night the Lilywhites were crowned league champions.

The previous record of 30 games was shared by a Rovers side from 1927 when, like Stephen Bradley’s 2020 side, a Shamrock Rovers team went through an 18 game league campaign unbeaten and kept on going, and the Athlone Town team from the early '80s.

Athlone lost two early games in the 1980/81 season before going 27 matches unbeaten to win the league and they won the first three matches of the 1981/82 season (Athlone's record was Played 30, Won 25, Drawn 5).

The new record earned by Rovers across the 2019, 2020 and 2021 seasons now stands at Played 33, Won 26, Drew 7, Scored 70 and Conceded 14.

The Hoops were unlucky in Oriel Park not to push the record to 34 matches, having hit the woodwork three times against Dundalk but were undone by two excellently taken goals from the 2020 FAI Cup holders. 

The Lilywhites boss Jim Magilton speaking to extratime.com afterwards noted that “They (Dundalk) deserved to win; Stephen (Bradley) will probably have a different view and you know he’s probably right too because they were good.”

Having said all that, the Hoops had ridden their luck with their unbeaten run on a couple of occasions this season – only late late equalisers against St. Patrick’s Athletic and Sligo Rovers helped them keep the run going.

They equalled the record when they beat Finn Harps 2-0 away at the end of April and earned the record outright with the 3-0 win against Waterford in Tallaght.

Rovers had a stretched squad for Friday’s match similar to April 2019 when they also lost 2-1 in Oriel Park. Hit with injuries and suspensions then, Stephen Bradley handed 16-year-old James Furlong a start that night but the Hoops Head Coach this time around kept his teenagers (six in total) on the bench.

With Sean Hoare suspended and injuries to Neil Farrugia, Sean Kavanagh, Chris McCann, Ronan Finn and Dylan Watts, Bradley’s options were limited on the bench. 

Bradley named the full nine substitutes allowed but they had just an average age of 19.1 and had played just 27 first team league fixtures for the Hoops between them all  – albeit a number of the players had played in the Shamrock Rovers II First Division team in 2020.

Five players named have yet to play in the Premier Division. Amongst the six teenagers on the bench was 16-year-old Kevin Zefi who is likely to make a move to Italy later in the summer.

As the Hoops chased the game after the hour mark, Bradley just made the one substitute bringing Dean Williams on with four minutes remaining – the 21-year-old striker had earned 18 of the 27 Premier Division appearances from the players on the bench going into the game.

What Stephen Bradley wouldn’t have done to be able to call on Richie Towell. The former Dundalk player will be available to play with the Hoops from 1 July with his first eligible game the visit of Dundalk to Tallaght Stadium.

The player is currently on holiday with his family taking a break following the completion of his time with Salford City.

Speaking in Hoops Scene, the Shamrock Rovers match programme, for their home game on Monday against Sligo Rovers Stephen Bradley spoke about Towell. 

“Richie is proven quality both here and in England,” said Bradley. “He’s already shown in this league that he can score goals from midfield and I’ve no doubt he will bring that to us as well.

“He’s a slightly different type of midfielder to what we have and I think he will complement the group really well. He’s the ultimate professional, he works very hard and he’s the type of character we want at this club. We’re looking forward to getting him in.”

Article updated to reflect Athlone Town's 30 game record from 1980 and 1981.

League Report: @DundalkFC 2 - 1 @ShamrockRovershttps://t.co/k1cchwM1oM

A Daniel Kelly masterclass on his 25th birthday earned a valuable three points for Dundalk at the expense of league leaders Shamrock Rovers who saw their 33-game unbeaten run come to an end pic.twitter.com/o9xvWBPrw4

— Extratime.com (@ExtratimeNews) May 22, 2021