By Macdara Ferris
Shamrock Rovers 2-1 Longford Town
The 2-1 win for Shamrock Rovers over bottom side Longford Town in Tallaght maintained the Hoops’ unbeaten record during Stephen Bradley’s four match managerial reign.
The venue had seen Dundalk’s brilliant victory over BATE Borisov win earlier this week and Rovers’ victory, through goals from Brandon Miele and Sean Heaney, at least keeps the Hoops in the hunt for European football themselves in Tallaght next summer.
The defeat for Tony Cousins’ men mean they still are still seeking their second league win of the season, with next week’s game away to Wexford Youths very much a relegation dogfight.
The only surprising thing about the first half was that the teams were level at the break. The home side dominated the opening period but could only score once with that pressure before conceding an equaliser three minutes before the break.
Stephen Bradley lined up his Rovers defence with three at the back with Sean Boyd making a debut start for Rovers with Trevor Clarke started only his second league game for Rovers. His trickery down the left caused the Town defence difficulty throughout the game.
By the time the Tallaght clock ticked to 10 minutes, the Hoops had squandered two great chances. First Brandon Miele was wasteful then Shaw’s touch freed up Boyd for a shot on target but he couldn’t beat Ryan Coulter in the Town goal.
Kaleem Simon at the other end kept the Rovers back three on their toes on a handful of occasions. He forced Webster into conceding a corner and David O’Sullivan then forced an error off Rob Cornwall which allowed Simon get another shot away.
The opening goal had been coming for quite some time and just a minute before the half hour mark Miele put the Hoops 1-0 up. He latched onto an excellent long ball over the top by Heaney on the left to race in on goal and dispatch the ball low into the corner of the net passed Coulter.
In the five minutes prior to the goal, Rovers had twice gone close. A Shaw header on to Trevor Clarke saw the winger force another save from Coulter before Boyd flicked a pass to Shaw whose shot from a tight angle was saved.
Three minutes from the break though, Longford got themselves level after David O’Sullivan slotted home with his right boot after Eddie Dsane had slipped him through on goal.
The second half was a much tamer affair with few clearcut chances. The one that did fall to Rovers was put away as Heaney headed the Hoops back into a just before the hour mark. Noel Haverty had deflected a Trevor Clarke cross for a corner and Heaney’s run was excellently timed to meet Miele’s set piece.
Rovers reverted to four at the back when Gavin Brennan came on as they closed out the game. With Derry City drawing at home to St. Patrick’s Athletic, the Hoops moved within a win of third placed Derry with two games in hand on the Candystripes.
Shamrock Rovers: Craig Hyland; Dave Webster, Rob Cornwall, Sean Heaney; Simon Madden, Pat Cregg, Stephen McPhail (c) (Gary McCabe 65), Brandon Miele, Trevor Clarke (Gavin Brennan 73); Sean Boyd (Dean Clarke 70), Gary Shaw.
Longford Town: Ryan Coulter; Noel Haverty, Yann Mvita Nkelu, Rhys Gorman, Conor Powell; Kaleem Simon, Mark Hughes (Gaius Makouta 76), Phillip Gannon, Peter McGlynn (Lee Duffy 76); Eddie Dsane, David O’Sullivan.
Bookings: Eddie Dsane (53).
Referee: Tomás Connolly.
