Shamrock Rovers 0-2 Dundalk

• Frankie Lally
• Sun, Mar 21 2010


Click here to view Fergus McNally's selection of photos from the game

Shamrock Rovers slumped to their second league defeat in as many games as Dundalk defied all the odds to capture a 2-0 win over The Hoops at Tallaght Stadium. Magnificent goals from Neale Fenn and Stephen Maher gave the visitors an unlikely three points.

Dundalk, who hadn’t beat Rovers away from home in the league since 1997 rectified that stat with an amazing performance in Tallaght on Sunday evening in front of the RTÉ cameras.

Rovers had their first chance of the game after 11 minutes. Billy Dennehy almost capitalised on a mistake at the back from Gary Breen but he blazed his shot well over the top of Peter Cherrie’s crossbar. Dundalk registered their first shot of the game after 20 minutes, but unfortunately for the Louth team JJ Melligan’s 30-yard volley never came close to troubling Alan Mannus.

Two minutes later Dundalk should have been in the lead as they spurned two glorious chances in quick succession. Aidan Price almost scored an own goal after he connected well with Ross Gaynor’s free-kick but Mannus managed to tip the ball out for a corner.

From the resulting corner Burns rattled Mannus’ crossbar and the scores remained 0-0 after a scrappy first 30 minutes. It was a sign of things to come as Dundalk took the lead just five minutes later.

The Lillywhites opening goal of the game came in the 35th minute. Gaynor received the ball on the left-wing and played a delightful ball over the head of Price who misjudged the flight of the ball. The ball landed at the feet of ex-Bohs player Fenn who tucked the ball into the bottom right-hand corner with the help of the post.

Ian Foster’s men scored their second just two minutes after the restart. A well worked free-kick from the halfway line was taken by Liam Burns and was beautifully taken down by Fenn on his chest. He then laid the ball off to Stephen Maher who rifled the ball home from 14-yards.

Rovers only really started to come to life after they went 2-0 down. They came close to getting a goal back in the 62nd minute when substitute Sean O’Connor’s corner was headed narrowly wide by Price. That was as close as they came to pulling a goal back as Dundalk were rarely troubled.

O’Neill introduced Dan Cowan in the second half but to no avail as he could find no way past an excellent Liam Burns who was winning every ball thrown at him.

Dundalk should have had a penalty three minutes later when Ross Gaynor was hauled down by Mannus inside the Rovers penalty area following a poor back pass from Price. Paul Tuite’s decision bewildered almost everyone in the ground and especially Ian Foster.

Despite their slight improvement in the second half Rovers never really looked like scoring. The absence of Gary Twigg up front is extremely noticeable as Rovers simply don’t look like scoring without him.

The defeat signals bad news for Shamrock Rovers as they now trail title challengers Bohemians and St Patrick’s Athletic by eight points. Michael O’Neill’s men have only picked up a single point in their opening three games and all doesn’t look well in Tallaght. Dundalk have collected seven points from a possible nine and look real contenders for a European place under Ian Foster.

Shamrock Rovers: Mannus; Sullivan, Murray (C), Price, Stevens, Bayly, Rice (Bradley 45), Kavanagh (O’Connor 51), Cahill, Dennehy, Barrett (Cowan 59)
Subs not used: Duggan; Sives

Dundalk FC: Cherrie; Hatswell, Breen, Burns (C), Kelly, Miller, Melligan (McGuigan 90), Maher, Gaynor (Murphy 87), Kudozovic, Fenn (Synnott 82)
Subs not used: Gregg; Breen

Extratime.ie Man of the Match: Ross Gaynor

Referee: Paul Tuite