Shamrock Rovers 1-1 Dundalk (Dundalk win 4-3 on penalties)
Dundalk claimed the first silverware of the 2021 season following a penalty shoot-out victory over Shamrock Rovers in the President's Cup at Tallaght Stadium.
Debutant goalkeeper Alessio Abibi was the hero for the County Louth side as he saved from Rory Gaffney and Roberto Lopes in the shoot-out to tee his side up nicely for their league opener away to Sligo Rovers on next weekend.
The President’s Cup might be a glorified friendly but there was no love lost between last season’s league champions and the side to pip them to the FAI Cup.
In total, seven yellow cards and a red were dished out, with another Dundalk debutant, Sonni Nattestad, having a mixed night as he opened the scoring in the 42nd minute before being sent-off following a tackle which sparked a minor melee just before the hour mark.
Watch highlights of Dundalk's penalty shoot-out President's Cup victory over Shamrock Rovers at Tallaght Stadium. #WatchLOI #RTEsoccer pic.twitter.com/w5siR025ik
— Soccer Republic (@SoccRepublic) March 12, 2021
By that stage, Stephen Bradley’s side were back on level terms following a stunning strike from Liam Scales but despite their numerical advantage for the closing half hour, they couldn’t force a winner in what were dreadful weather conditions.
It then went to the lottery of a shoot-out, with Abibi emerging the hero as Dundalk drew first blood for the year.
With a strong wind behind them it was no surprise that the home side started on the front foot with Gaffney peeling away from Andy Boyle on the left after just seven minutes only to see his attempted cross towards the inrushing Sean Gannon cut out by Abibi.
While they would have to wait until Nattestad’s goal three minutes before the break to register their first shot, Dundalk did pose a real threat a number of times in the opening half and were almost gifted the lead on nine minutes when Gannon’s ball back to his goalkeeper Alan Mannus saw him closed down quickly by Junior Ogedi-Uzokwe.
This resulted in a rushed clearance straight to David McMillan but fortunately for the Hoops, the FAI Cup final hat-trick hero from last December couldn’t control the loose ball and a good chance went abegging.
Graham Burke and Chris McCann both had efforts after that for Rovers who were unlucky not to take the lead on 19 minutes when Scales crashed a header off the underside of the crossbar from Danny Mandriou’s corner, before the visitors managed to scramble the follow up to safety.
Latvian international Raivis Jurkovskis would twice find joy up the right midway through the half.
On the first occasion on 23 minutes he beat Scales but despite a number of his team-mates lining up in the box he failed to lift his head and overhit his cross.
There was a similar story on 37 minutes when Junior played him in on the right.
Opting not to shoot himself, he attempted to square to the inrushing McEleney but his ball was behind the midfielder.
The breakthrough would arrive five minutes later though when Nattestad broke away from Sean Hoare to head McEleney’s corner to the net.
Rovers would have to wait less than three minutes after the restart to respond, however, when Scales did superbly well to control a cross from Gannon before flicking the ball past Jurkovskis and drilling a superb left foot shot past Abibi to the bottom right hand corner for what was a sensational strike.
Dundalk almost replied on 57 minutes when Jurkovskis’ cross was helped on by McEleney but substitute Patrick Hoban couldn’t get the purchase on his attempted volley to trouble Mannus.
The game then swung massively in Rovers’ favour two minutes later when Nattestad was sent-off following a challenge on Burke in which he appeared to win the ball cleanly.
Referee Damien MacGraith initially had the yellow card in his hand but then produced the red following a heated exchange between several players from both sides.
After that it was largely one way traffic with Rovers almost taking the lead in fortunate circumstances on 68 minutes when substitute Aaron Greene’s cross had to be clawed onto the post by Abibi.
The Albanian keeper then denied Burke with five minutes to go but was fortunate that his spill fell to his captain Chris Shields rather than to an opposition player.
Cameron Dummigan did test Mannus with a shot from range after that at the other end but despite plenty of late Rovers pressure they couldn’t force a winner to avoid the shoot-out.
Rovers last won a President’s Cup trophy, taking a shoot-out between these sides back in November 1987 but there was to be no repeat here - the LFA President's Cup was a competition with a similar name but only featured clubs affiliated to the Leinster Football Association.
Hoban and Dylan Watts scored their side’s opening penalties before Greg Sloggett blazed over allowing Aaron Greene to put Rovers 2-1 ahead.
Daniel Cleary briefly levelled before Joey O’Brien restored his side’s advantage.
Shields then made it 3-3 before Abibi made his first save from Gaffney. When Boyle blazed over the next spot kick for Dundalk, Rovers had a chance to win it but Burke did likewise.
Darragh Leahy then put Dundalk 4-3 ahead in sudden death before Abibi saved from Lopes to ensure the win for his side.
Shamrock Rovers: Alan Mannus; Sean Hoare, Roberto Lopes, Joey O’Brien; Sean Gannon, Ronan Finn (Dylan Watts 77), Chris McCann, Liam Scales; Graham Burke, Rory Gaffney, Danny Mandriou (Aaron Greene 65).
Subs not used: Leon Pohls, Gary O’Neill, Dean Williams, Adam Wells, Max Murphy, Cole Omorehiomwan.
Dundalk: Alessio Abibi; Daniel Cleary, Andy Boyle, Sonni Nattestad; Raivis Jurkovskis, Chris Shields, Sam Stanton, Darragh Leahy; Junior Ogedi-Uzokwe (Cameron Dummigan 82), David McMillan (Patrick Hoban 51), Patrick McEleney (Greg Sloggett 65).
Subs not used: Peter Cherrie, Ryan O’Kane, Val Adedokun, Mayowa Animashaun, Jesus Perez.Referee: Damien MacGraith (Mayo).
