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Miele is congratulated by his Rovers team-mates. Donall Farmer/INPHO
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Miele inspires Shamrock Rovers to 3 points as Longford go home empty-handed

The Hoops attacker scored one and set up another at Tallaght Stadium.

Shamrock Rovers 2

Longford Town 1

SHAMROCK ROVERS CLOSED the gap on third-placed Derry City to three points tonight as they overcame Longford Town to run out 2-1 winners in Tallaght Stadium.

The trio of Sean Heaney, Rob Cornwall and David Webster started at the back for the home side, while Simon Madden and Trevor Clarke acted as wing-backs, which saw the Hoops dominate early on.

Both Gary Shaw and Sean Boyd were given the nod up top, and the duo looked menacing, especially Boyd who is continuing to impress.

Indeed, he was the creator of the first chance — teeing up Brandon Miele who should have done better. Two minutes later, it was Boyd’s turn to have a strike, which was saved well by Ryan Coulter.

With a quarter of an hour played Longford settled somewhat as they went in search of their first league win since the opening day of the season.

Eddie Dsane’s corner-kick picked out Yann M’Vita, but he couldn’t get his strike away, and soon after that David O’Sullivan shot wide at the back post.

The open nature of the game made for some good football from both sides, but it was Rovers who looked to be in the ascendancy, and they were one up after half an hour thanks to Miele, who latched on to a long pass from Heaney before beating Coulter.

Dsane looked most likely to create a goal for the visitors, and after several tricky runs his determination paid off when he set up O’Sullivan to score with five left in the first half.

The second period started just like the first, with Rovers dominating, and even though Longford managed the early pressure, they were eventually behind again on the hour when Heaney headed in Miele’s corner-kick.

The pace in the game dropped slightly after that, but Dsane in particular continued to impress, without ever testing Hyland on a night when Rovers did enough to deserve the win.

SHAMROCK ROVERS: Hyland, Madden, Webster, Heaney, Conrwall, Cregg, McPhail (McCabe, 65), T Clarke (G Brennan, 73), Shaw, Miele, Boyd (D Clarke, 70). SUBS: Murphy, D O’Connor, McCabe, G Brennan, D Clarke, Hanney, Aherne.

LONGFORD TOWN: Coulter, M’Vita, Haverty, Gorman, Powell, Hughes (Makouta, 77), Gannon, McGlynn (Duffy, 77), Simon, Dsane, O’Sullivan. SUBS: Skinner, Mulhall, Hofman, Makouta, Flynn, Duffy, Chambers.

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