- Sam McKeever
- Sat, Jan 20 2018
Goals from Ronan Finn and Emanueli Lawal gave Shamrock Rovers a 2-0 friendly win against Cobh Ramblers at Tallaght Stadium on Saturday afternoon as both sides look to get up to match fitness for the new season.
The Hoops went with a line-up consisting of players from their first team who were not involved in the club’s other friendly on Saturday which was a 3-1 win against Longford Town in the morning at Roadstone.
Rovers controlled the early minutes of the game moving the ball around the pitch at a fast pace but they were not able to create any real chances out of their early domination.
Cobh were second best in the early stages of the first half but had the first real chance in the game as they nearly caught the Rovers defence out. A through pass from Karl Caulfield sent Andrew Wall through on goal but he dragged his effort just past the post.
Hoops Captain Ronan Finn had the next effort on goal with his shot taking a bit of a bobble in front of Paul Hunt in the Ramblers goal but the goalkeeper did well to tip it onto the post to keep the scores level.
The Rovers Trialist playing up top had the next opportunity in what seemed a flurry of chances going the home side’s way. The ball broke to him on the edge of the box but his effort lacked conviction as he tried to side foot it giving Hunt a simple save to parry it away from goal.
The second half continued off as the first with Rovers looking to dominate proceedings, but again it was Cobh who had the best effort as Stephen Christopher just hit his effort over.
Rovers did take the lead though soon after as a scramble in the Cobh box broke to Finn who made no mistake by smashing it past Hunt at the near post for a goal that had really been coming for Stephen Bradley’s men.
The Rovers skipper again was at the centre of the action when substitute Trevor Clarke set him up from just outside the box. Finn’s right footed shot had the Cobh ‘keeper scrambling to get down to it as it flew just past his left hand post.
The Hoops made a series of changes with 20 minutes to go with a number of players from the club’s under 19 side in preparation for the start of that of the season in a few weeks.
Rovers sealed the win with ten minutes to go as Clayton Walsh did brilliantly crossing to the back post after a lung bursting run to keep it in play and Emanueli Lawal was waiting patiently to head home.
The home side ended up deserving 2-0 winners in a game which was mainly played at a pace to be expected for a pre-season game but both manager though will be looking at this game for the importance of more minutes under their player’s belts rather the result.
Shamrock Rovers: Kevin Horgan (Ian Clarke 71); Ethan Boyle (Martins Olakanye 71), Lee Grace (Evan White 71), Greg Bolger (Conor Glesson 71), Joel Coustrain (Harry Cornally 71); Ronan Finn (Dean Williams 71) , Brandon Miele (Clayton Walsh 71); Ally Gilchrist (Thomas Olvwia 71), Evan Smithers (Richie English 71) Eric Abulu (Trevor Clarke 63), Trialist (Emanueli Lawal 71).
Cobh Ramblers: Paul Hunt; Ben O’Riordan, Jack Lynch (Denzil Fernandez 64), James McSweeney, Charlie Fleming; Karl Caulfield, Darren Murphy (Stephen Christopher 45), David Hurley (Bennion Whitmarsh 45), Ian Mylod (Ciaran O’Reilly 65) ; Jaze Kabia (Cian Lenoard 45), Andrew Wall (Adam Mylod 45)
Subs not used: Michael Sadys,Adam O’Sullivan, Peter Cllanan.
Man of the Match: Ronan Finn (Shamrock Rovers)
