- Macdara Ferris
- Mon, Apr 10 2023
Macdara Ferris reports from Tallaght Stadium
Ominous signs for the rest of the league after three in a row champions Shamrock Rovers made it three wins in a row.
They earned three cleansheets and scored nine goals over the Easter period. The Hoops duly dispatched bottom side UCD 3-0 on Bank Holiday Monday to move into third in the table.
Graham Burke grabbed two goals bringing his tally to five for the season while his fellow Ireland international Jack Byrne got a second half goal for the Hoops. UCD remain rooted to the bottom of the table without a win this season – and still without a Premier Division victory in Tallaght Stadium.
It was pretty much all one way traffic in the game in Tallaght as UCD defended deep trying to stifle Rovers. Andy Myler’s men did force Alan Mannus into one save when Daniel Norris’ cut in from the right and his shot forced the veteran Hoops goalkeeper to get down low to his left to keep his clean sheet.
Myler had made five changes to his team from their scoreless draw away to Shels on Good Friday with injuries and illness not helping his team’s chance of preventing a run of 13 straight Premier Division defeats against the Hoops.
Illness had shorn a few players from Rovers’ squad over Easter too with Richie Towell still unavailable and Gary O’Neill only named on the bench.
Hoops Head Coach Stephen Bradley made three changes bringing Pico Lopes in to skipper the team in the ongoing absence of Ronan Finn. The wing backs from the Dublin Derby win in Dalymount Park – Sean Kavanagh and goalscorer Neil Farrugia – were named on the bench.
Clarke was a thorn in UCD’s side in the opening half. Jack Keaney blocked one Clarke effort on goal and in the 16th minute, the Rovers wing back’s shot found the side netting off a Byrne pass.
The Students were putting their bodies in the way when Rovers lined up shooting chances – Conor Bolton and Sami Clarke getting touches to take away the danger from their goal.
Midway through the half Burke got the opener for the Hoops as he came in at the back post to slot home with his left foot. Rory Gaffney supplied the assist with a low cross after he was played in on the right of the UCD box by Byrne.
Gaffney forced a good save off Kian Moore minutes later and when he won a corner off Keaney, the Hoops made best use of Byrne’s set piece. After Sean Hoare won a header off Byrne’s corner, the ball kindly dropped to Burke who rifled home into the roof of the net from close range to give the Hoops a two goal lead in the 25th minute.
More Byrne corners rained in on the UCD goal in the second half with Lopes heading one effort low and into the ground in front of Moore who did well to hold onto the ball.
Byrne made his corner count just before the hour mark. When the ball came back to him from Clarke, he cut in and whipped a right foot shot on target. Moore will be disappointed with his effort as he looked to push it over but ended up just palming the ball back into his own net.
The Ireland international was withdrawn soon after, along with Markus Poom, as Bradley made good use of his bench bringing on Farrugia and Johnny Kenny. The subs linked up with Farrugia getting free on the right and his centre was headed on target by Kenny but Moore had no difficulty with saving his effort.
Burke blazed over soon after running onto a Gaffney pull back and that was as close as Burke came to his hat-trick as he was the next player to be called to the line by Bradley.
The Hoops couldn’t add a fourth but saw out the game with ease, ahead of welcoming Shelbourne to Tallaght Stadium next week.
With league leaders Bohs winning in Derry, Rovers remain seven points off the table toppers but are now just a point behind second placed Derry City. At the bottom meanwhile, with Cork City defeating Dundalk, UCD are now seven points behind ninth placed City.
Shamrock Rovers: Alan Mannus; Sean Hoare, Pico Lopes, Lee Grace; Darragh Nugent, Markus Poom (Johnny Kenny 62), Dylan Watts (Justin Ferizaj 68), Trevor Clarke; Graham Burke Burke (Conan Noonan 68), Jack Byrne (Neil Farrugia 62), Rory Gaffney (Sean Gannon 82).
Subs not used: Leon Pohls, Sean Kavanagh, Daniel Cleary, Gary O'Neill.
Booked: Darragh Nugent (7), Trevor Clarke (32).
UCD: Kian Moore; Daniel Norris (Daniel McCarthy 73), Luke O'Regan, Jack Keaney, Dara Keane, Jesse Dempsey; Sami Clarke (Harry O'Connor 62), Brendan Barr, Ciaran Behan, Colin Bolton (Alex Nolan 54); Jake Doyle (Divine Izekor 73).
Subs not used: Sam Healy, Kyle Donoghue, Harvey O'Brien, Donal Higgins.
Referee: Damien MacGraith.
Attendance: 4,012
extratime.com Player of the Match: Graham Burke (Shamrock Rovers)
