Setanta Sports Cup: Shamrock Rrs 1 Dundalk 2
Dundalk mop up with Towell
From Daire Walsh at Tallaght Stadium
TWO opening half penalties by Richie Towell gave Dundalk the edge in an entertaining semi-final first-leg encounter at Tallaght Stadium last night, but an 84th minute Eamon Zayed goal ensures Shamrock Rovers’ aspirations of recording back-to-back Setanta Sports Cup titles are still alive.
Rovers custodian Craig Hyland had looked shaky in the early stages of the contest, and when he upended the raiding John Mountney 10 minutes in, referee Paul Tuite was left with no option but to point to the spot which was expertly finished by Towell.
Things went from bad to worse for Rovers on 33 minutes, when the impressive Mountney was once again fouled inside the area and Towell fired powerfully beyond the reach of Hyland for a second time.
A third Dundalk may well have killed off Rovers’ prospects completely, but they remained in contention, and following a fine McCabe pull-back six minutes from the end, former Derry frontman Zayed found the roof of the net.
“We need to be a little bit braver when we pass the ball. We must do that, and we did that well in the second half. We did it in the lead up to the second goal, and we did have chances in the second half,” said Rovers manager Trevor Croly.