Shamrock Rovers took over top spot on the eircom Premier League table after a remarkable win over Shelbourne which saw a player from each side hospitalised and Shels reduced to nine men. The course of the game changed on 23 minutes when Jim Gannon was shown a straight red card for a horror tackle on Derek Tracey, which resulted in the Rovers number seven being hospitalised.
Tracey's replacement, Pat Deanes, headed Rovers ahead before Shels' ten became nine when Petter Hutton was sent-off for a deliberate handball in the area. Shels' keeper Steve Williams was carried off after a clash with Tony Grant straight to a waiting ambulance and his replacement Gareth Dempsey was powerless to prevent Mark Kenny's spot-kick. Kenny's 25-yard free-kick just before the break made it 3-0 to the home side.
The second-half was something of an anti-climax as Shels endeavoured to keep the scoreline down. It's to their credit that they managed to do just that but it was not enough to prevent Rovers from going back on top after a convincing but somewhat strange victory.
Filed by Amanda Fennelly
