Shamrock Rovers 5 Bray Wanderers 0
Graham Burke scored twice on his return to a Shamrock Rovers shirt following international duty with the Republic of Ireland as the Hoops eased to a facile win over bottom side Bray Wanderers, who played virtually the whole match in Tallaght with 10 men.
Rovers gave a debut to 16-year-old goalkeeper Gavin Bazunu, while Brandon Kavanagh, 17, made his first league start, in five changes from their defeat to Dundalk last time out.
Officially managed by Martin Russell for the first time, it went horribly wrong for Bray from the start as they were a man and a goal down inside four minutes.
Central defender Conor Kenna saw a straight red card for handling Kavanagh's shot on the line and Burke emphatically swept home the resulting penalty.
Bray lost captain Gary McCabe to injury six minutes into the second half and fell a second goal behind two minutes later.
Greg Bolger won the ball to set up Sam Bone who found the corner of the net with a powerful half volley.
Latching onto Kavanagh’s pass, Burke added Rovers’ third goal on 75 minutes when side-footing home from close range.
Dan Carr tapped home Seán Boyd's low cross on 83 minutes before substitute David McAllister completed the rout with a low drive from distance four minutes later.
SHAMROCK ROVERS: Bazunu; Boyle, O'Brien, Grace, S. Kavanagh; B. Kavanagh (Boyd, 78 mins), G Bolger (McAllister, 79 mins), Bone (A Bolger, 73 mins), Coustrain; Burke; Carr.
BRAY WANDERERS: Moran; Gibbons, Kenna, Heaney, Lynch; O'Conor, McKenna; D Kelly, McCabe (Gorman, 51 mins), Galvin; Coughlan (Pender, 71 mins).
Referee: Anthony Buttimer (Cork).
Attendance: 1,588
