Shamrock Rovers eased their fears of being dragged into a relegation dogfight with a 2-0 win over struggling UCD at the Belfield Bowl this evening.
The Hoops were ahead on 29 minutes, when Darragh Maguire made a storming run into the box and unleashed a fierce shot towards the goal. Matt Gregg was only able to parry the ball into the path of Tadhg Purcell who slid in to knock it home.
Padraig Amond closed the deal for Pat Scully's men with a 62nd minute header from Sean O'Connor's corner, Gregg having completely missed his attempt to intercept leaving an empty net for the striker.
For the Hoops this was a chance to add some breathing space between themselves and the relegation zone lurking below, while for Pete Mahon this was an opportunity lost.
With no less than eight centre halves starting the game, no-one in the Belfield Bowl was expecting an end-to-end affair.
Few were surprised then that it took a quarter of an hour for the game to manufacture a chance and even then, to call it a chance is a little generous, Derek Doyle aiming a free-kick straight at Barry Murphy in the Rovers goal.
Minutes later, Ian Bermingham had a real chance from Doyle's pull back, but he blasted his shot high and wide. Only a fine block from Pat Flynn prevented the home side going ahead soon after when he got in the way of Shane Fitzgerald's close-range effort.
This stirred the away team into action and Sean O'Connor began to threaten down the left hand side. The Students were warned when his fine run and cross only just eluded Amond at the far post.
Amond then did well to make space for himself on the edge of the box, sending a strong shot straight at Gregg. Aidan Price then roamed forward from the back before sending a weak effort that the former Bohs keeper easily dealt with.
At 1-0 Fitzgerald almost equalised for Mahon's charges, drifting infield off his wing and pulling a fine shot just wide with Murphy scrambling to get there. UCD pressed but Amond's header killed off all hopes of a contest.
While Pat McWalter did send a curling shot just wide with 20 minutes left this result was rarely in doubt, and the Rovers fans can breathe a sigh of relief as they added to their comfort zone.
UCD: 1 Matt Gregg, 2 Brian Shortall, 3 Ian Bermingham, 4 Conor Kenna, 5 Evan McMillan, 6 Alan McNally (14 Paul Byrne, 45), 7 Shane Fitzgerald, 8 Ronan Finn, 9 Pat McWalter, 10 Shane McFaul (12 Brian King, 71), 11 Derek Doyle (13 John O'Neill, 45).
Subs not used: 15 Greg Bolger, 16 Billy Brennan.
Shamrock Rovers: 1 Barry Murphy, 2 Ger O'Brien, 3 Pat Flynn, 4 Aidan Price, 5 Barry Ferguson, 6 Danny O'Connor, 7 Darren Stapleton (14 Eoin Doyle, 77), 8 Darragh Maguire, 9 Tadhg Purcell, 10 Padraig Amond (17 Mark Leech, 71), 11 Sean O'Connor (13 Eric McGill, 65).
Subs not used: 15 Dessie Baker, 16 Karl Coleman.
Referee: Anthony Buttimer.
