SHAMROCK ROVERS ARE not giving up their status as Irish football’s iconoclasts, sauntering through the gauntlet route of qualifying with a finale upset of Portuguese side Santa Clara to seal a spot in the Conference League phase.
That they will be second seeds in tomorrow’s draw is of course testament to the remarkable development of this club under Stephen Bradley, but the same was writ large in a goalless draw that turned fraught only in the final 20 minutes. Rovers had control of a largely incident-free first-half and then upped the ante to try and settle the game in its third quarter.
When they couldn’t find their goal, Rovers then clung to what they had, with primary thanks to goalkeeper Ed McGinty, whose reaction save from Vinicius Lopes’ vicious volley was truly breathtaking.
From there Rovers sheer maniac effort did the job, with all of their stalwarts standing tall: Pico Lopes, Lee Grace, and Dan Cleary were sure-footed and confident; Matt Healy alternated between controlling midfield and breaking it up; Josh Honohan made a mockery of his absence from the current Ireland squad; and Danny Mandroiu and Rory Gaffney epitomised the effort by leading tirelessly from the front.
And above all this was another night to shine a light on the taut bond between Bradley and his supporters. At the end Bradley pumped his fists and soaked in the acclaim, whereas in the 11th minute he looked around and clapped a crowd standing in ovation and singing the name of his son Josh, now healthy and cancer-free.
This Rovers story has been remarkable and there’s no sense it’s entering its final act any time soon.
Rovers were unsurprisingly unchanged from the first leg victory in the Azores, while Santa Clara made two changes, leaving their renowned Brazilian speed merchant, Gabriel Silva, on the bench.
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Given their advantage along with Santa Clara’s eye-watering pace in attack, Rovers were naturally not in the mood to start with abandon, preferring instead to try and use Rory Gaffney’s pace and exhaustless running to stretch and stress Santa Clara in behind. They remained committed all the while, and one of the loudest roars of the first half came when Darragh Nugent sprinted from the edge of the box to throw himself in front of a long-range shot, as if he were diving on a grenade.
Santa Clara, meanwhile, struggled to cope with Rovers’ basic physicality, consistently bumped off the ball too easily. The referee Matej Jug was occasionally swayed, with Lee Grace harshly booked for an accidental hand-off to the face of Santa Clara wide player Brenner, which led to a few testy exchanges between the Rovers bench and opposition coach and players. (Irish football fans may recognise the name of Mr.Jug: he was in charge for another Irish/Portuguese clash in 2021, when he denied Aaron Connolly an obvious penalty and offered Cristiano Ronaldo an obsequious apology for booking him after ripping off his shirt in celebration.)
The game was otherwise bitty and stuttering, which naturally suited Rovers. They dealt with Santa Clara’s counter threat through a combination of patient passing, good defensive positioning, and clever tactical fouling, at which Matt Healy in particular excelled. Healy tonight exhibited the kind of physicality and press resistance in midfield that’s painfully missing in the present Irish squad: league phase football will bring him into the conversation for senior international honours.
Rovers had a single shot in the first-half, but what a shot it was, as Josh Honohan cut in from the left wing, stood up a defender, and then whipped a shot off the angle of post and bar, with an airborne opposition ‘keeper already beaten.
Santa Clara meanwhile did not threaten, with McGinty’s terrific splayed save from Vinicius Lopes rendered moot by an offside flag.
Rovers cranked up the intensity after the break, continuing to hit Gaffney, but with more and more success. Gaffney was the outball around whom Rovers made hay. First Danny Mandroiu’s snapshot was deflected behind for Rovers’ first corner, where they could put their superior physicality to work. After some back-post pinball, Dan Cleary could only jab the ball toward the goalkeeper.
Twice, meanwhile, the outstanding Honohan was fouled on the left-wing, and twice the ground saw an nigh-identical move, as Pico Lopes met a flat-flying delivery to glance agonisingly wide of the far post.
Rovers were by now the dominant side, with any putative Santa Clara breaks expertly snuffed out by the outstanding Lopes. Santa Clara introduced Gabriel Silva on the hour mark but Rovers were now of the mind that attack would remain the best form of defence, swapping Darragh Nugent for Graham Burke.
There followed the game’s stunning moment. Santa Clara finally found an attacking foothold down their right flank, and the cross that was slung into the box skipped by a couple of bodies until it was met by Vinicus, who swivelled and caught his volley as purely as a volley can be caught. The ball exploded off his foot and ripped through the air until McGinty somehow contorted his body to shove the ball over the crossbar. Vinicus turned away and sank to his knees in disbelief. Everyone else felt they had just seen a lightning strike.
Rovers survived but it was a moment that spun the game on its axis and abruptly shifted all the momentum. Suddenly for Rovers the game felt elastic and beyond control, with Santa Clara emptying the bench and deciding it wasn’t time to die wondering. When Mr. Jug didn’t penalise what looked like a shove in the back of a Rovers defender, Gabriel Silva stooped in the box for a diving header that rolled just wide of McGinty’s post.
With the minutes on the clock now ticking sickeningly slowly, Mandroiu conceded a clumsy free-kick on the edge of his box, from which the whipped delivery was superbly tipped away by a diving McGinty, with the follow-up mercifully missed by the on-rushing attacker.
Rovers, driven on by a crowd lurching between adrenal roars and fretful groans, continued to work like maniacs, desperate to press their opponents and avoid falling too deep. There as a rallying call when the fourth official signalled for five added minutes.
With so many millions on the line, Rovers also grew antic and rushed, lashing the ball aimlessly clear in a compromise with the pressure. Santa Clara lay late siege, with Rovers dealing with a succession of set pieces until, at last, McGinty booted the ball out of play and Mr. Jug’s whistle let loose the wild rapture around Tallaght Stadium.
Shamrock Rovers: Ed McGinty; Danny Grant; Daniel Cleary, Roberto Lopes (captain), Lee Grace; Josh Honohan; Matt Healy, Darragh Nugent (Graham Burke, 60′), Dylan Watts (Aaron McEneff, 82′); Danny Mandroiu, Rory Gaffney (Michael Noonan, 71′)
Santa Clara: Gabriel Batista (captain); Diogo Cabral (Lucas Soares, 75′); Sidney Lima, Rocha (Pedro Ferreira, 75′), Matheus Nunes; Serginho, Adriano; Paulo Victor (Gabriel Silva, 60′); Brenner (Elias Manoel, 75′), Wendel Silva (Matheur Pereira, 60′), Vinicius Lopes
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Rovers crown historic night for Irish football with upset of Santa Clara
Shamrock Rovers 0
Santa Clara 0
Shamrock Rovers win 2-1 on aggregate
SHAMROCK ROVERS ARE not giving up their status as Irish football’s iconoclasts, sauntering through the gauntlet route of qualifying with a finale upset of Portuguese side Santa Clara to seal a spot in the Conference League phase.
That they will be second seeds in tomorrow’s draw is of course testament to the remarkable development of this club under Stephen Bradley, but the same was writ large in a goalless draw that turned fraught only in the final 20 minutes. Rovers had control of a largely incident-free first-half and then upped the ante to try and settle the game in its third quarter.
When they couldn’t find their goal, Rovers then clung to what they had, with primary thanks to goalkeeper Ed McGinty, whose reaction save from Vinicius Lopes’ vicious volley was truly breathtaking.
From there Rovers sheer maniac effort did the job, with all of their stalwarts standing tall: Pico Lopes, Lee Grace, and Dan Cleary were sure-footed and confident; Matt Healy alternated between controlling midfield and breaking it up; Josh Honohan made a mockery of his absence from the current Ireland squad; and Danny Mandroiu and Rory Gaffney epitomised the effort by leading tirelessly from the front.
And above all this was another night to shine a light on the taut bond between Bradley and his supporters. At the end Bradley pumped his fists and soaked in the acclaim, whereas in the 11th minute he looked around and clapped a crowd standing in ovation and singing the name of his son Josh, now healthy and cancer-free.
This Rovers story has been remarkable and there’s no sense it’s entering its final act any time soon.
Rovers were unsurprisingly unchanged from the first leg victory in the Azores, while Santa Clara made two changes, leaving their renowned Brazilian speed merchant, Gabriel Silva, on the bench.
Given their advantage along with Santa Clara’s eye-watering pace in attack, Rovers were naturally not in the mood to start with abandon, preferring instead to try and use Rory Gaffney’s pace and exhaustless running to stretch and stress Santa Clara in behind. They remained committed all the while, and one of the loudest roars of the first half came when Darragh Nugent sprinted from the edge of the box to throw himself in front of a long-range shot, as if he were diving on a grenade.
Santa Clara, meanwhile, struggled to cope with Rovers’ basic physicality, consistently bumped off the ball too easily. The referee Matej Jug was occasionally swayed, with Lee Grace harshly booked for an accidental hand-off to the face of Santa Clara wide player Brenner, which led to a few testy exchanges between the Rovers bench and opposition coach and players. (Irish football fans may recognise the name of Mr.Jug: he was in charge for another Irish/Portuguese clash in 2021, when he denied Aaron Connolly an obvious penalty and offered Cristiano Ronaldo an obsequious apology for booking him after ripping off his shirt in celebration.)
The game was otherwise bitty and stuttering, which naturally suited Rovers. They dealt with Santa Clara’s counter threat through a combination of patient passing, good defensive positioning, and clever tactical fouling, at which Matt Healy in particular excelled. Healy tonight exhibited the kind of physicality and press resistance in midfield that’s painfully missing in the present Irish squad: league phase football will bring him into the conversation for senior international honours.
Rovers had a single shot in the first-half, but what a shot it was, as Josh Honohan cut in from the left wing, stood up a defender, and then whipped a shot off the angle of post and bar, with an airborne opposition ‘keeper already beaten.
Santa Clara meanwhile did not threaten, with McGinty’s terrific splayed save from Vinicius Lopes rendered moot by an offside flag.
Rovers cranked up the intensity after the break, continuing to hit Gaffney, but with more and more success. Gaffney was the outball around whom Rovers made hay. First Danny Mandroiu’s snapshot was deflected behind for Rovers’ first corner, where they could put their superior physicality to work. After some back-post pinball, Dan Cleary could only jab the ball toward the goalkeeper.
Twice, meanwhile, the outstanding Honohan was fouled on the left-wing, and twice the ground saw an nigh-identical move, as Pico Lopes met a flat-flying delivery to glance agonisingly wide of the far post.
Rovers were by now the dominant side, with any putative Santa Clara breaks expertly snuffed out by the outstanding Lopes. Santa Clara introduced Gabriel Silva on the hour mark but Rovers were now of the mind that attack would remain the best form of defence, swapping Darragh Nugent for Graham Burke.
There followed the game’s stunning moment. Santa Clara finally found an attacking foothold down their right flank, and the cross that was slung into the box skipped by a couple of bodies until it was met by Vinicus, who swivelled and caught his volley as purely as a volley can be caught. The ball exploded off his foot and ripped through the air until McGinty somehow contorted his body to shove the ball over the crossbar. Vinicus turned away and sank to his knees in disbelief. Everyone else felt they had just seen a lightning strike.
Rovers survived but it was a moment that spun the game on its axis and abruptly shifted all the momentum. Suddenly for Rovers the game felt elastic and beyond control, with Santa Clara emptying the bench and deciding it wasn’t time to die wondering. When Mr. Jug didn’t penalise what looked like a shove in the back of a Rovers defender, Gabriel Silva stooped in the box for a diving header that rolled just wide of McGinty’s post.
With the minutes on the clock now ticking sickeningly slowly, Mandroiu conceded a clumsy free-kick on the edge of his box, from which the whipped delivery was superbly tipped away by a diving McGinty, with the follow-up mercifully missed by the on-rushing attacker.
Rovers, driven on by a crowd lurching between adrenal roars and fretful groans, continued to work like maniacs, desperate to press their opponents and avoid falling too deep. There as a rallying call when the fourth official signalled for five added minutes.
With so many millions on the line, Rovers also grew antic and rushed, lashing the ball aimlessly clear in a compromise with the pressure. Santa Clara lay late siege, with Rovers dealing with a succession of set pieces until, at last, McGinty booted the ball out of play and Mr. Jug’s whistle let loose the wild rapture around Tallaght Stadium.
Shamrock Rovers: Ed McGinty; Danny Grant; Daniel Cleary, Roberto Lopes (captain), Lee Grace; Josh Honohan; Matt Healy, Darragh Nugent (Graham Burke, 60′), Dylan Watts (Aaron McEneff, 82′); Danny Mandroiu, Rory Gaffney (Michael Noonan, 71′)
Santa Clara: Gabriel Batista (captain); Diogo Cabral (Lucas Soares, 75′); Sidney Lima, Rocha (Pedro Ferreira, 75′), Matheus Nunes; Serginho, Adriano; Paulo Victor (Gabriel Silva, 60′); Brenner (Elias Manoel, 75′), Wendel Silva (Matheur Pereira, 60′), Vinicius Lopes
Referee: Matej Jug (Slovenia)
Attendance: 8223
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