Galway United were sucker-punched in their relegation battle as they went down to a 2-1 defeat to Shamrock Rovers - a Ronan Murray penalty outdone by a fantastic Gary Shaw double.
Shane Keegan’s men were the better side in the opening 45 minutes, putting pressure on Rovers throughout, with relatively new signing Rory Hale instrumental in setting the tempo with some terrific pressing in the middle of the park.
Hale, indeed, enjoyed the first snapshot of the evening in the sixth minute before former United man Lee Grace was forced into a goal-line clearance a minute later after a Marc Ludden throw-in put pressure on Tomer Chencinski.
Stephen Folan got the first shot on target in the 11th minute when he tried his luck from just inside the Rovers half, but the ambitious effort was easily gathered by Chencinski. Seven minutes later, Gavan Holohan was applying pressure with a right-footed effort 20 yards from goal, but again the Hoops shot-stopper was equal to it.
Rovers created chances through Brandon Miele and Ronan Finn on the counter attack, but it was the home side who looked the better team, creating clear-cut chances almost at will. Jonah Ayunga should have buried the ball into the back of the net when Ryan Connolly was dispossessed by Holohan, but the Kenyan international’s effort was directed marginally over the bar.
United got the breakthrough, however, when a penalty kick was awarded after a Rovers player handled the ball inside the area and Murray made no mistake to score his 14th goal of the season.
Murray could well have nabbed another minutes later after some fine work from Devaney on the right wing saw him jink his way into the area before cutting the ball into the United no.19’s feet but he could only flick it over the upright from close range.
There were penalty claims from the United faithful shortly before the break, too, when a Rovers player looked like he could have handled the ball inside the area again but neither referee nor linesman spotted it.
Following the restart, Rovers looked a different side and started to play a bit, fashioning opportunities through a half-chance from Shaw and a long-range shot from Miele that drifted wide of the mark – but it was David McAllister who came closest of all with a diving header that saw Winn produce the save of the night.
Rovers sieged the United box and after some real pressure they found their breakthrough courtesy of a Shaw header in the 78th minute when he connected wonderfully with a throw-in from the visitors’ stand end to procure the all-important equaliser.
The closing minutes saw the Dubliners produce chance after chance to earn the win – Ludden was forced into a goal-line clearance while substitute James Doona fashioned a pop-shot from range.
However it was to be Shaw who proved the hero on the night for Rovers as he again put the finishing touch to some pinball football in the United box to score the vital winner with one minute of normal time remaining.
Galway United: Conor Winn, Colm Horgan, Marc Ludden, Alex Byrne, Gavan Holohan, David Cawley (Paul Sinnott 60), Jonah Ayunga (Eoin McCormack 84), Kevin Devaney, Rory Hale (Conor Melody 80), Ronan Murray, Stephen Folan
Shamrock Rovers: Tomer Chencinski, David Webster, Lee Grace, Roberto Lopes, Ryan Connolly (James Doona 51), Ronan Finn, Brandon Miele (Michael O’ Connor 67), Gary Shaw, David McAllister (Cameron Kin 77), Trevor Clarke, Graham Burke
Referee: Anthony Buttimer
