- Dave Donnelly
- Fri, Aug 07 2015
Shamrock Rovers' season disintegrated in appalling fashion as a badly-tempered derby with St. Patrick's Athletic ended in farce at Tallaght Stadium.
Chris Forrester's early second-half strike for the Saints slipped through Hoops goalkeeper Craig Hyland's grasp – and with it slipped Rovers' faint title aspirations – before the 'keeper was again at fault as Morgan Langley made it 2-0 deep into injury time.
By then Rovers were down to ten men as substitute Marty Waters, only introduced in the final ten minutes, had seen red following a clash with Aaron Greene as the home side lost all discipline as they tried in vain to recover a losing position.
Hoops boss Pat Fenlon had made seven changes to the side that lined out in Monday's EA Sports Cup loss to St. Pat's, with captain Conor Kenna, Craig Hyland, Brandon Miele, Gavin Brennan, Danny North, Pat Cregg and Dave Webster all returning to the starting line-up.
Liam Buckley opted for consistency, with just two changes to Monday's victorious side, with Brendan Clarke and Aaron Greene coming in for Conor O'Malley and Greg Bolger, who missed out entirely.
The Saints' intent was apparent from the first whistle as – barring a snapshot from Miele in the second minute – they dominated the early exchanges and gave the appearance of being the home team themselves.
Ian Bermingham, in particular, was causing Gavin Brennan no end of problems down the left hand side, and he delivered three testing crosses in the space of 90 seconds that required two excellent interventions from his opposite number Luke Byrne, while a third just evaded the run of Greene.
The Hoops managed to slow the tempo as the half wore on, a pace that suits their more deliberate game, and Simon Madden should have done better when played in by a neat Cregg pass before Gary McCabe drove just wide from the edge of the box after more intelligent play from Cregg.
The Saints should have capitalised, however, when Gary McCabe played a first-time backpass to Hyland without realising Jamie McGrath had stayed forward. The striker had time to compose himself and shoot from inside the box, but Hyland spread himself brilliantly to bail out his midfielder.
He could have done little about McGrath's next chance, however, as an excellent drilled cross from Ger O'Brien found the 18-year-old unmarked six yards out, but McGrath misjudged the flight of the ball and he fluffed his header when any sort of decent contact would have had the net bulging.
Next it was the woodwork's turn to come to Rovers' rescue as Killian Brennan's bullet strike from over 35 yards flew past Hyland's despairing dive and crashed back off the top of the post.
Pat's appeared destined to break the deadlock sooner or later, but it was Rovers who went closest on the stroke of half time when good hold-up play from Gavin Brennan – who was alternating well with striker Danny North – presented Miele with a chance from close-range, but he shot straight at Clarke.
All signs were for a tight second half, but that lasted less than three minutes as Hyland, who seemingly had Forrester's speculative effort covered, allowed the ball to slip from his grasp and through his legs.
Fenlon responded by sacrificing a defensive player in Cregg – Rovers' best player in the first half – for striker Mikey Drennan and the change could have reaped immediate rewards had Drennan been more composed when he stepped inside the challenge of Lee Desmond on the edge of the box, but he scuffed his strike.
Greene shot over for Pat's before Rovers should have levelled when North threaded through Drennan, but the out-of-form striker sliced the ball wide with Clarke advancing, before Gavin Brennan volleyed over the bar having initially done well to control the ball in the box.
In desperation, Fenlon introduced Gareth McCaffrey for North in an attempt to cure his striking ills, but it was Drennan who spurned the next chance as he drove straight at Clarke from Miele's through-ball, while McGrath should have settled the tie from the resulting break.
Hyland's second major error allowed Langley in to finally do that in the fourth minute of injury time when after rushing from the goal Hyland allowed the ball to bounce by him, but the Hoops had long since sacrificed their discipline and, with it, any designs they may have had on extending their season to the end of October.
Shamrock Rovers: Craig Hyland; Simon Madden, Conor Kenna, David Webster, Luke Byrne; Pat Cregg (Mikey Drennan 52), Gary McCabe, Cian Kavanagh, Ryan Brennan; Gavin Brennan (Marty Waters 91), Brandon Miele; Danny North (Gareth McCaffrey 74).
Subs not used: Barry Murphy (gk), Max Blanchard, David O'Connor, Cian Kavanagh.
Booked: Pat Cregg (31), Gavin Brennan (55), Ryan Brennan (69).
Sent off: Marty Waters (90+2).
St Patrick's Athletic: Brendan Clarke; Ger O'Brien, Kenny Browne (Jason McGuinness 90), Lee Desmond, Ian Bermingham; James Chambers, Killian Brennan, Chris Forrester, Conan Byrne (Jack Bayly 90+2), Jamie McGrath (Morgan Langley 82); Aaron Greene.
Subs not used: Conor O'Malley (gk), Paul Rooney, Darragh Markey, Sam Verdon.
Booked: Kenny Browne (39), Ian Bermingham (45), Brendan Clarke (90+1)
Sent-off: None.
Referee: Rob Rogers.
Attendance: 3,500 (estimate).
Extratime.ie Man of the Match: Killian Brennan (St Patrick's Athletic).
