Longford Town 0
Shamrock Rovers 1
Ronan Macnamara reports from Bishopsgate
IT WAS another late, late show for Shamrock Rovers as Rory Gaffney’s 95th-minute winner gave the champions a 1-0 win over Longford Town at Bishopsgate.
It arrests a run of three games without a win for Rovers and closes the gap on Sligo Rovers at the summit to the minimum, and it also means the Hoops have won nine points in added time this season.
Both sides played out a tentative opening half with Longford maintaining a disciplined shape to stifle the Rovers attack.
The hosts started well and had a strong appeal for a penalty waved away by referee Ray Mathews after Aaron McNally’s cross caught Lee Grace on the arm from point-blank range.
Rovers dominated and looked dangerous after the half-hour mark. The best chance of the half fell to Liam Scales when Sean Gannon found him in acres of space at the back post, but his tame header went wide.
Scales thought he had set up Gaffney but the goal was correctly ruled out for a handball.
Heartbreak for Longford Town 💔
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Shamrock Rovers leave it late again and claim all 3 points thanks to a Rory Gaffney goal 😲
FT | @LongfordTownFC 0-1 @ShamrockRovers
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Graham Burke had two shots in quick succession fly wide of either post as the first half drew to a close.
Stephen Bradley’s charges dominated the second period. Steacy produced a smart save low to his right to keep out Burke’s free kick in the 55th minute.
Gaffney should have done better after he met Scales’ cross, but he couldn’t keep his header down before Burke dragged a shot wide from 12 yards with the goal at his mercy.
Town striker Rob Manley spurned his sides best opportunity of the game in the 65th minute when he hooked over from close range.
The champions persevered and got their reward with the last kick of the game. Steacy produced a stunning save to deny Burke but Gaffney hammered home from close range to break Longford hearts.
Longford Town: Lee Steacy, Aaron McNally (Karl Chambers 57), Aaron O’Driscoll, Paddy Kirk, Aodh Dervin, Dean Zambra, Michael McDonnell, Aaron Robinson, Callum Thompson (Dylan Grimes 57), Rob Manley (Joe
Manley 90), Aaron Dobbs (Dean Byrne 76).
Shamrock Rovers: Alan Mannus, Sean Gannon, Sean Hoare, Lee Grace, Roberto Lopes, Liam Scales, Gary O’Neill (Chris McCann 82), Danny Mandroiu, Graham Burke, Aaron Greene (Dean Williams 74), Rory Gaffney.
Unrelated but it looks sheenan’s injury isn’t too bad and he’ll be all good for the WC, according to a recently deleted tweet from the Indo
@J M: if you’re wrong I will hunt you down :)
@Gearóid MacEachaidh: if you have reddit you can see a screenshot of said tweet on the rugbyunion subreddit
@J M: unreal news on Sheehan, anyone else have any other news?
@J M: Thats made my day. We have some really good hookers but he gives the team a whole other dimension.
@J M: also hope both teams absolutely bash the crap out of each other
Will we be blown away again in the first 20 min with that AB pace? .. Going to be very interesting to see (doubt it though, plenty of rugby match time since then .. Fully expecting the boks to throw the kitchen sink. Very strong sides… Some more height in the bok backline obviously to counter the Aerial bombardment.. .. No better prep than this win or lose…
@Stuart: long as beat lumps out of each other i be happy
@Stuart: Depends which NZ shows up, they were poor against Aus in their last game and just flew to London this week, they may be rusty
@Owen ODonoghue: well they are pretty Much are at full strength… If we can slow down that quick ball (like the other top 3/4 sides in the world in the rwc), we should be able to strangle the life out of them and unleash the kraken…
Anyone know if there is somewhere we can watch this? I thought Amazon might be showing some of the games last week but they didn’t.
@Gearóid MacEachaidh: aren’t Sky Sports showing it ? If ya had a dodgy box it’s on the South African channel Super Sport … apparently
@Noel Roe: used to have a dodgy box but not for a long time. If its on Sky I know a way around it. Cheers.
@Gearóid MacEachaidh: according to Flashscore, it’s on Sky Sports Mix
@Gearóid MacEachaidh: Sometimes Premier Sports are late updating their schedule on the TV Guide, so it could still turn up there. Every rugby fan in the world wants to see this game, it’s sold out, so must be somewhere!
@John McNamara: checked – confirmed that on my programme guide. Yippee!
@John McNamara: cheers John
@John Morris: thanks guys
@Gearóid MacEachaidh: sky showcase
@Gearóid MacEachaidh:
Its on sky sports mix
South Africa have a pretty amazing warm up schedule, they’ll arrive to the ireland game with NZ, Aus, Arg Wales and Scottish games under their belt
@Owen ODonoghue: Ireland have beaten all of the above on their winning run to the SA match – oh, and include SA and France too!