Shamrock Rovers 2
Sligo Rovers 1
Darryl Geraghty reports from Tallaght Stadium
SHAMROCK ROVERS EMERGED victorious in a thrilling end-to-end encounter at Tallaght in front of a crowd of 5,112, extending their unbeaten league run to nine games.
Goals from Johnny Kenny and Trevor Clarke secured the big win, with Greg Bolger netting against his former side to set up a nervy ending.
The champions were made to work extremely hard for all three points over an impressive Sligo Rovers side who on another night might have tjaaken more from the game.
In the battle of the hotshots – league top scorer Max Mata versus the man whose scoring boots he has been filling quite comfortably, Johnny Kenny – It was the Irish U21 who came out on top netting the opener – with the former being well marshalled by man-of-the-match Roberto Lopes.
In a congested and evenly fought midfield battle, Markus Poom showed great vision to float a delightful ball over the top for Kenny, who showed a tremendous turn of pace to get in behind Eanna Clancy and lift the ball expertly over the onrushing Luke McNicholas.
To their credit, the visitors responded well and pinned The Hoops back for the majority of the first half, with Mata having two good chances by his own high standards but failed to hit the target with either volley from the edge of the area.
The Bit O’Red continued to press for an equaliser in the second half, but failed to test Alan Mannus on too many occasions and were made to pay when Rovers caught them on the break.
With talk of a new offer on the table, Jack Byrne showed no signs of distraction as he created the second, slipping in Trevor Clarke on the inside left channel who made no mistake smashing the ball low under McNicholas.
Sligo Rovers halved the deficit just minutes later though, when ex-Hoops midfielder Greg Bolger saw his strike deflect off the heels of Roberto Lopes and fly past Mannus, setting up an exciting final quarter of an hour.
Both sides had massive chances to add to their tally, with substitute Aaron Greene just taking a heavy touch at the vital moment when in on goal, and right at the death Mata saw his bullet header fly just inches over the bar much to the disbelief of the travelling away fans and players alike.
Shamrock Rovers: Alan Mannus, Neil Farrugia, Lee Grace, Roberto Lopes, Dan Cleary, Trevor Clarke, Gary O’Neill, Markus Poom (Richie Towell, 57’), Jack Byrne, Graham Burke (Darragh Nugent, 83’), Johnny Kenny (Aaron Greene, 72’).
Sligo Rovers: Luke McNicholas, Johan Brannefalk (David Cawley, 78’), Eanna Clancy (Danny Lafferty, 66’), Nando Pijnaker, Reece Hutchinson, Frank Liivak, Greg Bolger (Lukas Browning, 78’), Niall Morahan, William Fitzgerald, Kailin Barlow (Stefan Radosavljevic, 59’), Max Mata.
Referee: Damien MacGraith