- Macdara Ferris
- Mon, Apr 20 2015
Shamrock Rovers made it five wins in a row against Bray Wanderers with a 3-0 win in the Carlisle Grounds on Monday night. A first half headed goal from Mikey Drennan, his sixth from seven starts, and two second half headers off Keith Fahey corners from Max Blanchard and Ryan Brennan handed the Hoops all three league points. It was the fifth win for Pat Fenlon’s team from their opening nine league games as Bray caretaker boss Maciej Tarnogrodski suffered his first defeat.
Drennan began his professional career over in England putting in impressive performances with the Aston Villa NextGen team alongside a certain fellow Ireland under 21 international, Jack Grealish. There has been much discussion over the weekend about whether Martin O’Neill will call Grealish into his senior squad. However Hoops fans are quite happy with their player who has a firm position in the Rovers squad.
The Ireland boss was in Tallaght last Friday and saw Drennan score twice as he helped the Hoops rescue a point from a game they found themselves 2-0 down against Dundalk. Rovers fans certainly feel they have un-earthed a player of note in Drenann.
Whether he is the one to fill the Gary Twigg shaped hole they have found up front over the past few seasons remains to be seen but the striker scored his sixth goal from seven league starts.
Pat Fenlon made four changes from Friday’s 2-2 draw against Dundalk. Blanchard came into the heart of the defence, in place of Conor Kenna, for his first start since the opening night of the season.
Both sides had chances within the first 10 minutes to take the lead. It was the visiting side who should have taken an early lead when the Bray defence opened up in front of Gavin Brennan on nine minutes.
Gary McCabe had curled the ball with the outside of his foot onto the head of Fahey who flicked the ball into Gavin Brennan’s path but he could only hit the ball straight at Bray ‘keeper Stephen McGuinness and he wasn’t able to slot home the rebound.
Moments later Bray Wanderers got forward thanks to a fine flick by Ryan McEvoy. Emeka Onwubiko, playing against the club he played for last season in the First Division, took the ball on but shot over the bar without troubling Craig Hyland.
Just before the half hour mark Rovers took a free kick quickly when McEvoy looked harshly adjudged offside. Ryan Brennan beautifully floated a ball over the top of the Bray defence to the onrushing Drennan but he sliced his attempted lob well wide.
Two minutes later Drennan made no mistake with a brave backpost header for his sixth strike of the season. Rovers moved the ball through David Webster to Fahey on the right. His infield pass was sent to the back stick by Brandon Miele for Drennan to score the opener.
The home side created two chances as the clock ticked to half-time. Blanchard’s header just took the ball away from Graham Kelly who was poised to head goalwards and deep in stoppage time, Bray forced Hyland’s first save of the game.
Hugh Douglas diagonal pass allowed Daniel O’Reilly swing the ball into the box from the left. While Douglas couldn’t get on the return the ball, it fell to Bray Captain David Cassidy on the edge of the box. His volley forced Hyland to dive to gather to his right.
Twice in a minute after the break McCabe was involved in almost doubling his side’s lead. His backheel lost possession deep in Bray territory but the winger won the ball back to feed Drennan who shot over. Then McCabe slipped inside the Bray defence to sweep a shot just over the cross bar.
However it wasn’t long before the Hoops had their second. It was another header as this time Ryan Brennan rose highest to head home Fahey’s free kick from the right for his first of the season.
It was a carbon copy for Rovers’ third goal. Fahey had won his team a corner after his shot skipped just over the bar taking a touch off Hugh Douglas on the way. The Ireland international swung the resulting set piece in with Blanchard powering home the header for the Hoops to make it 3-0.
Bray Wanderers: Stephen McGuinness; Michael Barker, Alan McNally, Hugh Douglas, Daniel O’Reilly; Emeka Onwubiko (Daniel Blackbyrne 83), Ryan McEvoy, Graham Kelly (David Scully 66), Luke Gallagher (Gareth McDonagh h/t), Peter McGlynn; David Cassidy (c).
Subs Not Used: Brian Kane (gk), Niall Cooney, Adam Mitchell, Chris Lyons.
Booked: McGlynn (86), O'Reilly (87).
Shamrock Rovers: Craig Hyland; Simon Madden, Maxime Blanchard (David O'Connor 67), David Webster (Gavin Brennan 72), Luke Byrne; Gary McCabe, Patrick Cregg (c) (Marty Waters 60), Keith Fahey, Ryan Brennan, Brandon Miele; Michael Drennan.
Subs not used: Barry Murphy (gk), Stephen McPhail, Sean O'Connor, Danny North.
Booked: Cregg (35).
Referee: Ben Connolly.
Attendance: 1,200 (estimate).
Extratime.ie Man of the Match: Keith Fahey (Shamrock Rovers).
