St Patrick’s Athletic 0
Shamrock Rovers 1
Conor McKenna reports from Richmond Park
AN INJURY TIME goal from Daniel Carr ensured Shamrock Rovers claimed victory in tonight’s Dublin derby, with the victory fully deserved, as Stephen Bradley’s side dominated the play for the majority of the game.
There was a clear lack of intensity visible for large periods of this encounter, with this game meaningless in truth regarding the outcome of the competion, as only massive pride which comes with a local derby at stake for both sides.
Shamrock Rovers will be delighted to get the win, as it was in danger of following a similar trend to their last encounter against Cork City, where the Tallaght outfit dominated procedures but couldn’t grab a goal to win the game, so Carr’s late winner will come as a relief to the Rovers contingent.
The first real chance of the game came in the 21st minute, when Gary Shaw’s effort sailed to the left and wide, after Ronan Finn dispossessed Lee Desmond.
St. Pat’s had a golden opportunity to open the scoring, with Kevin Toner heading narrowly wide from a free-kick, with the Inchicore outfit targeting the head of Toner from set-pieces in the opening half.
Shamrock Rovers almost had the lead after half an hour, after Joel Coustrain headed over from Ethan Boyle’s cross.
The teams went into the interval scoreless, with Rovers dominating the opening half and in control of the game.
Rovers had a golden chance with 73 minutes on the clock, however the St Pat’s defence stood firm to deny Joel Coustrain and Ronan Finn respectively.
Dylan Watts goal-bound effort was then saved superbly after a mix-up in the Pat’s defence and Brandon Kavanagh had a golden chance to win the game after being set up by Joel Coustrain but Brendan Clarke again produced the goods to deny Watts.
Shamrock Rovers had the ball in the net courtesy of Daniel Carr with 87 played however the left winger was correctly ruled out for offside.
Carr had the last laugh though, heading to the back of the net in stoppage time after a superb cross from Brandon Kavanagh to ensure his side claimed a deserved three points and bragging rights that come with victory in a local derby.
ST PATRICK’S ATHLETIC: Brendan Clarke; Simon Madden, Kevin Toner, Michael Leahy, Ian Bermingham; Lee Desmond, Jamie Lennon; Ryan Brennan (Dean Clarke, 75), Conor Clifford, Darragh Markey (James Doona, 57); Jake Keegan (Ian Turner, 87).
SHAMROCK ROVERS: Alan Mannus; Ethan Boyle, Roberto Lopes, Lee Grace, Sean Kavanagh; Greg Bolger (Sam Bone, 86); Joel Coustrain, Dylan Watts, Ronan Finn, Daniel Carr; Gary Shaw (Brandon Kavanagh, 65).
Referee: Mareks Kere (Latvia).
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