Soccer

Airtricity League round-up: Dundalk dent Shamrock Rovers’ title hopes at Oriel Park

St Patrick’s Athletic hit seven past UCD to move to within four points of leaders as Derry City draw at Shelbourne

Dundalk’s Louie Annesley celebrates the victory over Shamrock Rovers in the SSE Airtricity League Premier Division match at Oriel Park. Photograph: Ryan Byrne /Inpho
Dundalk’s Louie Annesley celebrates the victory over Shamrock Rovers in the SSE Airtricity League Premier Division match at Oriel Park. Photograph: Ryan Byrne /Inpho
Fri Jun 30 2023 - 22:03
Dundalk 2 Shamrock Rovers 0

Two goals inside three minutes from Louie Annesley and Patrick Hoban saw Dundalk shock Shamrock Rovers at Oriel Park to put a dent in the champions’ hopes of retaining their title.

Stephen O’Donnell’s side were immense from start to finish but finally made their dominance count when Gibraltar international Annesley – who featured against the Republic of Ireland at the Aviva Stadium earlier this month – fired them in front with a stunning strike on 74 minutes.

The club’s record goalscorer Hoban then headed in a second just three minutes later to inflict just a second away defeat of the campaign on a Rovers side who had only conceded five goals away from home all season prior to this.

Stephen Bradley’s side never really got going and while Derry City were unable to capitalise on their slip-up having drawn away to Shelbourne, St Patrick’s Athletic have closed their lead at the top of the table from seven points to four.

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The hosts dominated the early exchanges but it was one of their four former players in the Rovers line-up who almost opened the scoring with what would have been a calamitous own goal on 21 minutes.

Seán Hoare, who made 125 appearances for the Lilywhites between 2017 and 2020, was under little pressure at the edge of his own box when he deftly headed back to his goalkeeper, not realising that Leon Pohls was coming for it. The ball subsequently crept past the German but Hoare was able to get back and scramble it off the line at the expense of a corner, which was headed into the side-netting by Hoban.

Another former Dundalk player, Seán Gannon, thought he had broken the deadlock in Rovers’ first meaningful attack on 33 minutes but his tap-in was ruled out for offside after Nathan Shepperd had spilled Johnny Kenny’s initial effort.

Hoban had another half-chance from a corner five minutes after the restart but couldn’t direct it goalwards.

Rory Gaffney was introduced just after the hour mark to provide some attacking threat for the visitors and he almost delivered it on 67 minutes when he found space inside the box to get a shot away only to see it curl just wide of the right-hand post.

The champions were rocked on 74 minutes, however, when the Louth men hit the front. Annesley was allowed break to the edge of the area after an exchange of passes with Greg Sloggett before letting fly with a brilliant left-foot shot to the top left-hand corner.

Within three minutes, Dundalk doubled their advantage with Hoban getting on the end of a superb inswinging free kick from Keith Ward to head past Pohls to the bottom right hand corner.

Rovers did attempt to fight their way back into it after that but Daniel Cleary headed over from a Dylan Watts corner on 84 minutes before Gaffney had an effort pushed away by Shepperd three minutes later.

DUNDALK: Shepperd; Davies, Muller, Annesley, Leahy, McCourt (Doyle, 86); Yli-Kokko (Ward, 72), Sloggett, Malley, Kelly (O’Kane, 91); Hoban (Martin, 86).

SHAMROCK ROVERS: Pohls; Cleary, Lopes, Hoare; Gannon, Watts, Poom, Towell (Burt, 71), Kavanagh; Greene (Burke, 71), Kenny (Gaffney, 62).

Referee: Paul McLaughlin (Monaghan).

St Patrick’s Athletic 7 UCD 0

UCD had no answer to the craft and creativity of St Patrick’s Athletic at Richmond Park as Jon Daly’s side threw down their title credentials with this overwhelming victory.

Their fifth home win from five under Daly moves St Pat’s into second place in the table above Derry City, and to within four points of champions Shamrock Rovers.

With a strong breeze at their backs, St Patrick’s enjoyed plenty of possession from the off and took the lead on 13 minutes.

Mark Doyle linked well with Ben McCormack to thread a ball for the run of Jake Mulraney who was upended by Jesse Dempsey.

Skipper Chris Forrester confidently sent Kian Moore the wrong way from the penalty for his 11th goal of the season.

Mulraney, Doyle twice, and McCormack all worked Moore before the College goalkeeper was helpless to prevent St Pat’s adding a deserved second goal right on 45 minutes; Mulraney’s low cross turned into his own net by the hapless Michael Gallagher.

The game was put to bed within two minutes of the second half when St Patrick’s stretched the lead further, Mulraney again providing the assist, his inswinging corner headed home by Sam Curtis.

Moore made a brave save at the feet of Doyle before being beaten again on 65 minutes. Substitute Tommy Lonergan raced on to Forrester’s pass to drill to the net for his first goal for the club.

Also just on the pitch, Jay McClelland tapped home with his first touch to make it 5-0 from Lonergan’s low cross.

Two minutes later another sub, Mason Melia, stabbed home following a Curtis cross to become the club’s youngest ever league goalscorer at just 15.

Lonergan headed in McCormack’s 75th-minute free-kick for his second goal of the night to complete the rout.

ST PATRICK’S ATHLETIC: Lyness; Curtis, Lewis, McGrath, Breslin; Lennon (Timmermans, 60); Mulraney (Lonergan, 60), Forrester (Bartley, 73), McCormack, M. Doyle (Melia, 60); Carty (McClelland, 68).

UCD: Moore; Babb, Keaney, Osam, Dempsey (Bowden, 78); Barr (O’Regan, h-t), Gallagher (O’Brien, 56); Clarke, Kinsella-Bishop (Alonge, 56), Nolan; Doyle.

Referee: Neil Doyle (Dublin).

Shelbourne 1 Derry City 1

Ten-man Derry City slipped down to third in the Premier Division table after playing out a draw with Shelbourne at Tolka Park.

While Shels – who had Joey O’Brien patrolling the dugout in the absence of suspended boss Damien Duff – threatened early on through Jack Moylan, their netminder Conor Kearns was called into action on a number of occasions to ensure the deadlock remained unbroken at the interval.

Kearns and his opposite number Brian Maher pulled off some fine stops on the restart, before the latter ultimately picked the ball out of the back of the Derry net on 57 minutes. Introduced for Shane Farrell at half-time, Seán Boyd’s diving header off an Evan Caffrey set-piece delivery nestled into the bottom right-hand corner.

Although the Dubliners grew in confidence as a consequence of this opener, Derry restored parity in superb style when Ben Doherty unleashed an unstoppable strike to the top left-hand corner in the 71st-minute.

The Candystripes subsequently lost Adam O’Reilly to a red card just shy of the 80-minute mark and despite letting slip of second spot in the top-flight standings, a sharing of the spoils in Drumcondra keeps Ruaidhrí Higgins’s charges within six points of pacesetters Shamrock Rovers.

SHELBOURNE: Kearns; Quinn, Molloy, Griffin (Barrett, 22); JR Wilson, Lunney, Coyle (Hakiki, 83), Caffrey, T Wilson (Ledwidge, 68); Farrell (Boyd, 46), Moylan.

DERRY CITY: Maher; Boyce, S McEleney, McJannet, Doherty; Dummigan (Connolly), Diallo; McEneff (C Kavanagh), O’Reilly, B Kavanagh; McGonigle (Coll).

Referee: R Harvey (Dublin).

Sligo Rovers 3 Bohemians 1

Sligo Rovers bounced back to form in sensational fashion with a shock 3-1 defeat of Bohemians at the Showgrounds.

Goals from Kailin Barlow, Max Mata and Stefan Radosavljevic saw the Bit O’Red claim just their second win in nine games, despite finishing the game with 10 men following Barlow’s second-half sending-off.

Bohemians came to the rain-soaked venue hoping for a repeat of the performance that earned them all three points earlier in the month.

But they only had Jonathan Afolabi’s late strike to show for their trip to the northwest, as they failed to build on last week’s come-from-behind draw with arch rivals Shamrock Rovers.

Youngster Barlow got the ball rolling with his first senior goal for the club on 26 minutes, with Mata, Greg Bolger and Niall Morahan all involved in the build-up after Bohs were turned over inside their own half.

Barlow had earlier saw a close-range effort saved by Bohs goalkeeper James Talbot, as the hosts looked to bounce back from a disappointing defeat to UCD last time out.

The Sligo native was also involved in his side’s second goal, as his delivery caused panic in the Gypsies rearguard, and Mata took advantage to fire home five minutes before half-time.

Barlow concluded an incident-packed first half by picking up his first booking before the break, and he received his second just after the hour-mark for a deliberate foul.

Luckily for him, his side had already added to their tally just before that, as substitute Radosavljevic scored a screamer on 57 minutes with a thunderous shot from outside the area.

Afolabi claimed a consolation with a good strike from outside the area in the dying minutes, but the home side were good value for the win.

SLIGO ROVERS: McNicholas, Brannefalk, Mahon (Cawley, 74), Pijnaker, Lafferty, Morahan, Bolger (Browing, 62), Liivak (Radosavljevic ht), Fitzgerald, Barlow, Mata (Elding, 78).

BOHEMIANS: Talbot, Horton, Radkowski, Nowak, Kirk, Clarke (Okosun, 70), McDonnell (McManus, h-t), Flores, Twardek (McDaid, h-t), Connolly, Afolabi.

Referee: D Dunne.

Cork City 1 Drogheda United 1

Joe O’Brien Whitmarsh made sure that Cork City gained a point in their bid to avoid the drop by making it 1-1 against Drogheda United at Turners Cross.

It looked like Adam Foley’s goal was going to decide this six-pointer at the bottom of the table, but the midfielder cancelled this out in the 82nd minute.

This was a clash of styles as Cork City tried to control the game by passing it out from the back and Drogheda pressed high into the opposition half.

There was no let up from Drogheda and they gave City no time to settle themselves on the ball.

The best that the home side could do was a run down the right from Tunde Owolabi, and Drogheda intercepted the pass before Ruairí Keating could tap this in.

Andrew Wogan was then needed to stop the striker from connecting with a deep cross that Gordon Walker sent in.

Drogheda took the lead in the 67th minute when Foley ran on to a ball sent through the middle and rolled it in with his left boot.

There was no relent from City after this, and O’Brien Whitmarsh equalised with a close range shot.

CORK CITY: J Corcoran; G Walker (C Bargary, 59), C Coleman, M Healy (B Coffey, 59), A Gilchrist, T Owolabi (C Murphy, 59), A Bolger, R Keating, J O’Donovan, K Custovic, J O’Brien Whitmarsh.

DROGHEDA UNITED: A Wogan; E Ahui, E Weir, C Keeley, E Adegboyega, D Markey, G Deegan, A Foley (A McNally, 77), D Rooney, R Brennan, D Noone (E Topcu, 69).

Referee: Damien MacGraith