Shamrock Rovers 1
Sligo Rovers 0
Dave Donnelly reports from Tallaght Stadium
DANIEL CARR FIRED Shamrock Rovers to a fortunate 1-0 victory over Sligo Rovers at Tallaght Stadium on Friday night.
The Londoner showed his fox-in-the-box instincts to peel away at the back post and turn home Sean Kavanagh inch-perfect cross on the hour to earn his side an unlikely win.
There was more than a hint of controversy about the goal, however, as Rovers played on while Rhys McCabe lay in the other half holding his face.
The Hoops pressed on despite the home side’s protests and made the extra man count as they stretched Sligo on both sides before Kavanagh laid it on a plate for Carr.
Rovers boss Stephen Bradley made four changes from the 2-1 defeat in Waterford last Friday, with Luke Byrne and Kevin Horgan replacing the injured Trevor Clarke and dropped Tomer Chencinski.
Those changes contributed in part to a disjointed first half performance from the hosts, who looked disorganised in defence and frequently outmuscled.
#Fulltime pic.twitter.com/C0AbXMm7mu
— Shamrock Rovers F.C. 🇮🇪 (@ShamrockRovers) March 30, 2018
Ex-Liverpool trainee Adam Morgan looked lively playing off the shoulder off Lee Grace, and he capitalised on the defender’s mistake to shoot but Roberto Lopes threw himself in front of the ball.
Sligo continued to have the better of the play after the break, even up to Rovers goal, and they had chances to level as Patrick McClean headed over and Gary Boylan shot straight at Horgan.
David Cawley saw a furious strike well blocked-down by Roberto Lopes as the visitors continued to look for a way through but Rovers hang on with relative comfort to take all three points.
SHAMROCK ROVERS: Horgan; Boyle, Grace, Lopes, Byrne; Bolger, Finn, Coustrain (Miele 70), Kavanagh (Bone 81), Burke; Carr (Shaw 70).
SLIGO ROVERS: Schlingermann; Boylan, McFadden, McClean, Waters; Cawley, Roy (Moorhouse 71), McCabe, Morrison (Wixted 63), McAleer (Cretaro 87); Morgan.
Referee: Neil Doyle
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Can they not just refer to the players by their names instead of namechecking whatever club they failed at in england? Every week its the same.
@paddy: have found that extremely irritating for the last 6 months.
@Conor Cassin: every second LOI article appears to start with ‘ex Aston Villa striker’ or ‘former Brighton defender’ etc.
You failed to mention that as soon as Rovers scored McCabe jumped up with nothing wrong with him. Sligo were playing for a draw right from the kickoff
@Gerry Ivie: Really annoying when guys like you refer to Shams as Rovers when there’s two teams called rovers playing.
Dreadful game, but would debate your point that Shamrock Rovers were fortunate! They definitely edged the second half as far as I am concerned!
Dont care how dreadful the match was as long as we got tge 3 precious points KOH
Surprised there’s no Sligo fans on protesting that you called their team Sligo and Rovers, well Rovers.
The hoops are up and down like a jockeys Bollox this season.