Shamrock Rovers 1 - 2 Sporting Fingal (AET)

• Jody Moylan
• Wed, Sep 16 2009


The romance of the Cup. This is what it’s about. The underdog having his day. The mighty falling. Controversy, goalmouth drama and then throw in an extra 30 minutes for good measure. Sporting Fingal overcame Shamrock Rovers with a mammoth 2-1 win at Tallaght Stadium after an epic quarter final replay.

Both teams were adamant to go at it from the start. It took only two minutes for Aidan Price to find Graham Barrett, whose flick on eventually found Dessie Baker in space. From outside the box the striker thumped it just over.

With the very early stages played mostly inside Fingal’s, half the Hoops were caught napping in the eighth minute when the north-siders broke up field. Gary O’Neill found the ball at his feet with only recalled 'keeper Alan Mannus to beat, but he stumbled as Craig Sives closed in. However, Sives made a hash of the challenge and O’Neill had the chance to play the ball as he lay on the ground. Alan Kirby was inside, the goal at his mercy. O’Neill managed to find him and the unmarked striker slotted home at his ease.

Suddenly the big upset was on, with still more punters filing into the stands.

Rovers quickly sought to dampen the mood of the lively travelling party and in the 11th minute Darren Quigley was forced into a magnificent save after Stephen Bradley’s free kick was hell bent on reaching the bottom right hand corner of the Fingal goal. As the half wore on it was real nip and tuck stuff as the home side failed to push Fingal into any kind of submission. Robert Bayly in the centre was covering the ground, probing, working his socks off for the visitors.

After he was pulled down on the right after 25 minutes, Shaun Williams floating free kick only needed the slightest of touches to direct it in. To an almost eerie silence as the delivery made its' way across the box, the ball sailed just wide as Mannus stood rigid on the line. Relieved to get to half-time with just the single goal deficit, Rovers burst into life in the second half and within a minute had earned themselves a penalty.

Baker nodded down in the box to Ross Chisholm who was bundled over by Shane McFaul. Bradley put the penalty away and such was the urgency of Rovers play in the 25 minutes after the break that it only looked like a matter of time before the second would arrive in the Hoops' favour.

Chisholm shot over in the 57th minute and came close ten minutes later after his free kick flashed wide of Quigley’s goal.

Slowly, though, Fingal began to reassert themselves and in the 70th minute Bayly’s deflected shot crept inches wide after a neat exchange between Gary O’Neill and Conan Byrne. O’Neill again went close minutes later after twisting and turning the defence before shooting wide.

With ten minutes left, Quigley again came to Sporting’s rescue with a fine stop from Sives who had arrived at the post with a downward header.

With the clock ticking down Fingal broke forward at the death. Bayly found substitute Robbie Doyle on the right wing but his cross-field ball had too much weight on it and beat the in rushing Kirby for pace. The game moved into extra-time, perhaps justly given the balance of the contest.

Bodies all about the pitch were tiring during the added 30 minutes and much of it was played without any real menace from either team. Rovers' hopes weren't helped by Sives' dismissal for a second yellow just after mid-term break. Three minutes later, Robbie Doyle shot a free kick against the Hoops' wall, but the lively Dubliners involvement wasn’t finished yet.

With five minutes remaining he attempted an outrageous over-head kick and while in flight Pat Flynn was adjudged, somewhat controversially, to have ran into the soaring striker and the penalty was given. Alan Kirby put the ball on the spot and buried the kick.

That was it, surely. With the masses leaving the ground with heads bowed, Rovers dashed forward in one final throw of the dice.

Almost inevitably, with typical cup drama, Stephen Paisley nudged Padraig Amond in Fingal’s box and with nothing on the clock Richie Winter pointed once more to the spot. The exiting crowd turned in their tracks, stopped in the aisles and watched open mouthed as Bradley again stepped up. He gathered himself a second, ran up, and blasted it over the bar to end a night of high drama.

Shamrock Rovers: Alan Mannus, Pat Flynn, Aidan Price, Craig Sives, Ollie Cahill, Shane Robinson (Stephen Rice, 46), Ross Chisholm, Stephen Bradley, Sean O’Connor, Dessie Baker (Padraig Amond, 72), Graham Barrett.

Sporting Fingal: Darren Quigley, Brian Gannon, John Frost, Shaun Williams, Shaun Maher, Stephen Paisley©, Conan Byrne (Eamon Zayed 82'), Robert Bayly (Colm James 117'), Gary O’Neill (Robbie Doyle 87'), Alan Kirby, Shane McFaul.

Referee: Richie Winter.

Man of the Match: Alan Kirby, could be given it for his heroic brace alone but his work rate on the left wing was also top drawer.