Shamrock Rovers 1
Derry City 0
SHAMROCK ROVERS REACHED the halfway point of the season with a deserved win at home to title rivals Derry City, even if all continue to trail in Shelbourne’s wake.
An eighth-minute goal by an effervescent Johnny Kenny settled the game, though Brian Maher’s penalty save and a series of last-ditch Derry blocks forestalled the end of the game as a contest before half-time.
Stephen Bradley has spoken calmly in recent weeks that his side’s xG is telling a healthier tale than their points tally at the moment, and this was another game in which they contrived to miss a series of chances, but this time that profligacy didn’t cost them any points. That’s partly down to Derry’s anemic performance: they were missing the suspended Pat Hoban but they created precious few chances for anyone to miss, particularly across a wretched opening half.
Kenny made a sparkling start, battling to win the ball on the halfway line and skating clear, coolly rounding Brian Maher before he was denied a stunning solo goal by Adam O’Reilly’s goal-line block. That was after only two minutes: call it Kenny’s signal of intent.
He got his goal only six minutes later, finding himself in the right position to finish a Graham Burke shot from range that rebounded off Maher’s chest.
Kenny was on a tear, shredding Derry’s cumbersome duo of Shane McEleney and Cameron McJannett with ease. 13 minutes later Kenny won a penalty, tripped in the box by McJannett after the Derry defence made a hames of clearing a simple ball over the top. Maher came to the rescue, however, throwing himself to his left to claw away Burke’s penalty.
That proved to be one of a series of missed chances for Rovers, who should have been out of sight at half-time. Some of their football flowed beautifully: Neil Farrugia dummied the ball to set himself away down the right and then exchanged a one-two with Darragh Nugent before chopping back and seeing a shot deflected into Maher’s arms.
Rovers lost Sean Kavanagh to injury but were able to replace him with Jack Byrne, who saw a shot deflected wide after the razor-sharp Kenny had another shot blocked in the box. That came from thwarted Derry attempts to play out from the back, which drew a paroxysm of rage from Ruaidhri Higgins.
Derry were largely restricted to long-range efforts in the first-half, none of which troubled Leon Pohls. Derry’s was a limp first-half performance whose only redeeming part was the fact they were only 1-0 down.
Higgins expressed his opinion of his side’s first-half performance by hooking Dummigan and Ciaran Coll for Patrick McEleney and Sam Todd: they succeeded in at least making the early stages of the second half more even. Rovers continued to have the better chances, however, and Byrne’s delightful pass sent Burke through on a counter-attack, but Todd recovered brilliantly to force Burke’s shot into the side-netting.
Rovers’ then flexed their depth further by introducing Aarons Greene and McEneff, the latter making the first Tallaght appearance of his second stint at the club. As the Rovers ultras cavorted to the familiar tune of McEneff’s song, a handful of travelling Bayer Leverkusen fans set up in the north stand and started making friends, corralling a bunch of younger Rovers fans in chants and dance.
On the pitch, Byrne was the conductor, and saw a precise corner glanced narrowly wide by an unmarked Honhan. Rovers, having failed to kill the game, spent the final 10 minutes of normal time in survival mode, defending a series of set pieces and then relieved to see Paul McMullan snap a volley from the edge of the box narrowly over the crossbar.
It was during this endgame in which Derry felt the absence of Hoban, with a series of crosses into the Rovers box left unmet. The stadium howled for the end of six minutes of added time, but there was no sense of desperation in their shouts, as Derry offered no threat.
This topsy-turvy season continues.
Shamrock Rovers: Leon Pohls; Josh Honohan, Roberto Lopes, Daniel Cleary; Neil Farrugia; Markus Poom, Sean Kavanagh, Darragh Nugent; Trevor Clarke; Graham Burke (Aaron Greene, 67′), Johnny Kenny (Aaron McEneff, 67′)
Derry City: Brian Maher; Ronan Boyce (Daniel Kelly, 71′), Cameron McJannett, Shane McEleney, Ciaran Coll (Sam Todd, HT); Cameron Dummigan (Patrick McEleney, HT), Adam O’Reilly; Paul McMullan, Will Patching, Michael Duffy; Danny Mullen
Attendance: 4031
