Five-star Shamrock Rovers move closer to title

Hoops can seal Airtricity Men’s Premier Division next week after victory over Drogheda United

Daire Walsh

Shamrock Rovers 5 Drogheda United 0

Trevor Clarke, Richie Towell, Johnny Kenny, Neil Farrugia and Markus Poom were all on target at Tallaght Stadium last night as Shamrock Rovers moved a step closer to another SSE Airtricity Men’s Premier Division crown with a comfortable victory over Drogheda United.

Now six points clear of both Derry City and St Patrick’s Athletic, the Hoops can officially seal a fourth consecutive top-flight title against the latter at Richmond Park next Friday.

Originally set to take place on Friday evening, this game was ultimately pushed back by 48 hours after the Tallaght surface was deemed to be unplayable on a day when the capital was subject to a near-constant flow of torrential downpours.

Despite the 22 points and six places that separated the two teams in the table before this contest, Rovers have found Drogheda to be a tough nut to crack in 2023. Either side of a 2-1 reversal to the Louth side on May 19 in Tallaght, there were 0-0 and 1-1 draws in Drogheda for the title holders in February and July respectively.

However, Rovers came storming out of the block in their fourth meeting of the year and were in the ascendancy with just under six minutes gone. After Farrugia’s cross on the right-wing narrowly evaded the head of Rory Gaffney, the raiding Clarke was on hand to drill the ball into the net off his left foot.

This was a dream start for Hoops boss Stephen Bradley against the club that he won a Premier Division title with as a player in 2007 and he had a further reason to rejoice in the 15th minute. Following a Gaffney knock down off Daniel Cleary’s ball into the box, former Dundalk ace Towell was ideally placed to apply a simple finish from close-in.

Already well on their way to a 18th league win of the season, Rovers added a third goal on 27 minutes when Kenny spectacularly fired home on the turn from another Farrugia delivery.

Even though both managers made changes to their line-ups for the restart, the game continued in much the same vein. When the ball broke free inside the area less than three minutes into the second period, Farrugia fired an unstoppable left-footed strike beyond the reach of Drogs netminder Andrew Wogan.

Rovers were ruthlessly going about their business and made it five when Markus Poom powerfully headed home a Gaffney cross with 37 minutes of normal time still left to play.

The Hoops did finish the tie with 10 men as Clarke was withdrawn through injury after five substitutions had already been made, but with Drogheda (who played this game without away supporters due to an incident in their recent derby encounter against Dundalk) struggling to make an attacking impact, they closed out the game effectively in his absence.

Meanwhile, Joseph O’Brien-Whitmarsh and Ruairi Keating struck quick-fire first half goals at Belfield in the day’s other refixed game as Cork City kept their slim hopes of avoiding a spot in the relegation play-offs alive with a 2-0 victory over basement side UCD.

SHAMROCK ROVERS: Mannus; Cleary (Hoare, 61 mins), Lopes, Grace; Farrugia, O’Neill (Nugent, 46 mins), Poom (Burt, 61 mins), Clarke; Towell (Razi, 46 mins); Kenny, Gaffney (Power, 61 mins).

DROGHEDA UNITED: Wogan; Weir, Egan (Noone, 46 mins), Kane; Foley, Davis (Warren, 86 mins), Keegan, Wade Slater (McNally, 46 mins), O’Brien; Heeney (Topcu, 58 mins), Robinson (Jones, 46 mins).

Referee: R Harvey (Dublin).