- Alex Dunne
- Mon, May 22 2017
Shamrock Rovers got back to winning ways on Monday night, putting their recent Derry City defeat behind them, as they overcame Galway United 2-0 at Tallaght Stadium.
Goals in either half from Gary Shaw and Brandon Miele gave the Hoops the victory, a deserved one even if they were not at their best, with Shaw missing many a chance to add to the tally.
The game began at a tepid pace, with early possession for Rovers not matched by intensity going forward – though Graham Burke can be forgiven somewhat after a heavy early blow to a sensitive area.
Galway were unable to relax on the ball in the opening stages but did create a fantastic chance in the 18th minute, when a Colm Horgan cross met the head of Padraic Cunningham at the Rovers front post, but the effort was put wide of the mark.
The Tribesmen began to get going after that chance and, where once they were sloppy, they began to flow. With tenacious work down the right hand side from Gary Shanahan, winning the ball from Luke Byrne high up the pitch, they moved forward before Shanahan delivered to Kevin Devaney, who had his shot blocked by Dan Devine.
A break from midfield from Conor Melody in the 24th minute bought Galway another chance but a poor cross was long and over the head of Cunningham.
The visitors were made to pay for those misses in the 36th minute when Rovers, who went close through a Shaw header off a Simon Madden cross four minutes before, took the lead. It was a bit of class from the big front man that bought them the goal.
A run down the left from Byrne saw him cross to Clarke, who sent it back to Shaw. The striker up to this point was not having his greatest game, however, with one touch to control he nudged the ball just around Paul Sinnott before expertly placing the ball easily in the right corner evading the outstretched arm of United 'keeper Conor Winn on its way in.
Galway did have a chance to equalise before the half came to an end when Shanahan had a volley driven wide of the left post with three minutes to go.
An early effort saw Burke fire a shot towards goal within seconds of the restart after half time, with Rovers looking to continue the game in a positive way.
They were nearly doubled their lead just before the hour mark when a brilliant Burke cross from the right wing was met by a smashing Shaw header, but what it had in power it lacked in direction and went wide of the right post.
Three minutes later Rovers were on the attack again through captain Ronan Finn, who cut in off the left hand side before completely missing the ball and swinging at air.
Luckily the ball rolled to Burke but his shot from the edge of the box flashed wide. You'd almost be forgiven for thinking Finn meant it.
Rovers began to turn up the intensity, and turn on the style, with pinpoint crossing on the right wing from Miele buying Shaw two more chances from nothing, but they couldn't be converted.
Miele then popped up with a goal himself, taking on a ball rushing in from that right hand side, out-muscling Sinnott before firing past Winn to make it 2-0.
Galway, out of the game for much of the second half, relied on a piece of individual brilliance from Kevin Devaney to bring them a goalscoring chance. A clever turn saw him beat two Rovers players before shooting on the same turn from 25 yards out, forcing a top quality save out from Tomer Chencinski.
With ten minutes to go a break from midfield from Ryan Connolly nearly bought Rovers a third, as he played to Burke at the back of the box before he squared to Miele, whose low shot hit the left upright and deflected away for a goal kick.
Rovers had to rejig their defence with Webster going off and they saw out the game with Luke Byrne playing along Sam Bone at centre half.
Cunningham had a chance in the 84th minute, holding off the challenge of Bone to shoot from yards out, but his weak effort was easy for Chencinski to deal with, as were Galway on the night for Rovers. Far from their best performance but they did enough to seal all three points – and earn a third win from their last four league games.
SHAMROCK ROVERS: Tomer Chencinski; Simon Madden, David Webster (Darren Meenan 78), Daniel Devine (Sam Bone h/t), Luke Byrne; Trevor Clarke, David McAllister, Ronan Finn (Ryan Connolly 72), Brandon Miele; Graham Burke, Gary Shaw.
Subs Not Used: Kevin Horgan, James Doona, Sean Boyd, Michael O'Connor.
Booked: Danny Devine (20).\
GALWAY UNITED: Conor Winn; Colm Horgan, Lee Grace, Stephen Folan, Paul Sinnott (Jesse Devers 78), Gary Shanahan; Kevin Devaney, Alex Byrne, Gavan Holohan (Aaron Conway 87), Conor Melody (Gary Kinneen 90+2); Padraic Cunningham.
Subs Not Used: Ciaran Nugent, David Cawley, Ciaran Nugent, Vinny Faherty.
Booked: Gavan Holohan (24).
Referee: Derek Tomney
Attendance: 1,500 (estimate).
Extratime.ie Man of the Match: Brandon Miele (Shamrock Rovers)
