Two cracking goals from distance from Brandon Miele saw Shamrock Rovers come from behind to beat already relegated Longford Town who finished with 10 men in their final SSE Airtricity League Premier Divsion clash of the season at City Calling Stadium.
Pat Flynn came back in at right-back for Longford for his farewell appearance before retiring in one of four changes for Town from last week’s stalemate at Galway United.
With three switches in personnel from last week’s 0-0 draw with Bray Wanderers, Rovers gave a full debut to 16-year-old Republic of Ireland youth international Aaron Bolger in their midfield.
A bright opening saw chances at either end inside the opening two minutes.
Don Cowan began the action when bursting down the right for Town with his cross hooked clear by Dave Webster.
Seconds later at the other end, Gary Shaw’s shot brought a diving save from Paul Skinner after Miele’s ball put him through on goal.
The lively start was maintained as Longford took the lead on nine minutes. Kealan Dillon whipped over the inviting cross from the right flank and midfielder Mark Hughes found the roof of Barry Murphy's net with a diving header for his first goal of the season.
Rovers lost defender Rob Cornwall to injury on 23 minutes, but his replacement Dean Clarke soon caused Town plenty of problems down the left, leading to their equaliser on 37 minutes.
Clarke’s deep cross resulted in Town skipper Conor Powell being sent off for a deliberate handball as he went up to challenge Shaw at the far post.
Referee Andrew Mullally also pointed to the spot with Rovers' captain Gary McCabe driving home the penalty.
Rovers were then ahead within three minutes of the second half when a header from half-time substitute Aaron Dobbs, from Simon Madden’s right flank cross, was adjudged to have crossed the line by assistant referee Robert Clarke.
Two minutes later, Miele found the bottom right corner of Skinner’s net from over 25 yards to put Rovers 3-1 up. Town hit back on 57 minutes when David O’Sullivan scrambled home Kaleem Simon’s free kick in from the right.
But Miele restored Rovers' two goal lead seven minutes later when scoring directly from a well-struck free kick.
Flynn was substituted on 76 minutes, leaving the pitch to a standing ovation from both sets of fans.
Longford Town: Paul Skinner; Pat Flynn (Jamie Mulhall 76), Yann Mvita, Rhys Gorman, Conor Powell; Kealan Dillon (Tristan Noack-Hofmann 55), Mark Hughes (Gaius Makouta 62), Philip Gannon, Kaleem Simon; Don Cowan, David O’Sullivan.
Shamrock Rovers: Barry Murphy; Simon Madden, Rob Cornwall (Dean Clarke 23), Dave Webster Sean Heaney; Brandon Miele, Gary McCabe, Aaron Bolger, Trevor Clarke; Gary Shaw (Shane Hanney 61), Sean Boyd (Aaron Dobbs h-t).
Referee: Andrew Mullally (Waterford).
