Shamrock Rovers 3-0 Progrès Niederkorn (Agg: 3-0)
A brace of goals from winger Kieran Marty Waters and a first goal for the club from central defender Dave Webster eased Shamrock Rovers into the second qualifying round of the Europa League.
Poor weather and their Luxembourg opponents failed to dampen the delight of the Tallaght Stadium crowd of 3,250 as Pat Fenlon’s side advanced.
Rovers go through to likely meet Odds BK, the Norwegian side who lead Sheriff Tiraspol of Moldova 3-0 ahead of their home leg on Thursday, with the first leg of the second round next week.
In addition, Rovers receive further prize money from UEFA of €210,000, on top of the €200,000 already guaranteed for qualifying.
Though there was no sign of Damien Duff, his parents and brother were in attendance as guests of Rovers, adding fuel to the wide speculation that the 100-times capped Republic of Ireland legend is indeed about to sign for the Hoops.
Quietly confident going into this second leg, Rovers boss Fenlon named an unchanged side from the 0-0 draw in Luxembourg.
In stark contrast to the 31-degree heat at kick-off in that first leg last week, it was a cool, rainy night in Tallaght as Progrès, with three changes in their line-up, had the first shot in anger in the fifth minute; Olivier Cassan shot wide from Alessandro Fiorani’s lay-off.
Seven minutes later Progrès winger Hakim Menai’s ball in behind was just a shade too far ahead of the run of Cassan before Craig Hyland gathered.
Rovers continued to live dangerously in the early stages as they survived another scare on 16 minutes when striker Giuseppe Rossini’s glancing header from Sebastian Thill’s deep free kick flashed inches wide.
All was sweetness and light on 21 minutes when Rovers took the lead. Progrès left-back Fiorini was guilty of a foul on Gary McCabe. A poor clearance from Waters’ free kick into the area dropped for Brandon Miele who returned the ball for Webster to score with a calm side-foot effort.
Gavin Brennan headed over the top from a Waters cross minutes later.
Progrès remained threatening on the counter-attack, but again, a final contact just couldn’t be made in front of goal, for instance from Menai, from a Mickael Garos cross on 33 minutes; Rovers scrambled the ball clear.
Rovers doubled their lead in clinically punishing a goalkeeping error in the 40th minute.
Simon Madden’s ball in from the right flank off his left foot was spilled by Sebastian Flauss and Waters reacted superbly to the loose ball to dive in and head to the empty net for a poacher’s finish.
Rovers sealed their passage with the goal of the game from an incisive counterattack 12 minutes into the second half.
The impressive Madden broke again on the right. He fed the ball inside to Patrick Cregg, who helped it on to Drennan.
The striker then laid the ball into the path of Waters, who was arriving from the left; he swept a sweet left-foot side-footer to the net.
It should have been 4-0 on 74 minutes. Madden again was involved in putting Drennan clean through on goal. Keeper Flauss did well to get his body in the way and deflect the shot out for a corner.
In the end, Rovers will have been more than happy with their evening’s work, and progress to the next round.
Shamrock Rovers: Craig Hyland; Simon Madden, Dave Webster, Tim Clancy, Luke Byrne; Gary McCabe, Patrick Cregg; Gavin Brennan, Brandon Miele, Marty Waters (Ryan Brennan 75); Mikey Drennan (Danny North 87).
Progrès Niederkorn: Sebastian Flauss; Adrian Ferino, Ismael Bouzid, Samuel Dog, Alessandro Fiorini (Paul Bossi 75); Mickael Garos, Sebastian Thill (Olivier Thill 77); Hakim Menai, Olivier Cassan, Levy Rougeaux (Valentin Poinsignon 67); Giuseppe Rossini.
Referee: Dominik Ouschan (Austria).
