James gets Pat on back
Shamrock Rovers 1 St Pat’s 0
DAIRE WALSH reports
JAMES CHAMBERS’ twentieth-minute strike guided Shamrock Rovers to clinch their third cup of 2013.
Rovers added the Leinster Senior Cup to Setanta Sports Cup and EA Sports Cup victories with a gritty win over St Patrick’s Athletic at Richmond Park yesterday.
Trevor Croly’s men started brightly, with St Pat’s looking the worst for wear after a week of celebrations following their Airtricity League triumph.
Eamon Zayed narrowly missed connecting with a Stephen Rice cross early, before Billy Dennehy was just off-target with a shot on goal.
Rovers then took the lead courtesy of a deflected strike from just inside the area by Chambers after Dennehy’s set-piece delivery had been partially cleared.
Enterprising
Pat’s finally tested Rovers netminder Barry Murphy on 33 minutes, when a point-blank Peter Durrad header from an enterprising Conan Byrne delivery was tipped over by the imposing keeper.
And after a difficult end to the first half, the Rovers starting to find their feet again.
There was no more goals there for them, though, but luckily for the Tallaght outfit, there was none for the Premier League champions either as the Hoops recorded back-to-back successes in the competition.
ST PATRICK’S ATHLETIC: Gilmartin 7; Hoare 6, Browne 6, Price 7, Fitzgerald 7; Gannon 6, Bolger 6 (McFaul 46, 6), Russell 6 (Kelly 63, 6); Byrne 7 (Kenna 72, 6), Durrad 7, Forrester 7. Subs not used: Clarke, O’Brien, Bermingham, Flood.
SHAMROCK ROVERS: Murphy 8; McCormack 7, Heaney 7, Elbert 7, Ledwith 7; O’Connor 7 (Finn 79, 6), Rice 7 (Kavanagh 85, 6), Chambers 8, Dennehy 7; Zayed 7, Sheppard 6 (McCabe 19, 7). Subs not used: Fagan, Foran, Brown, Bukhatna.
REFEREE: B Connolly (Dublin).