RENEWED HOOPS
Champs back to winning ways
Shamrock Rvs……………… 3
Drogheda Utd………………. 1
by DAIRE WALSH
A BRACE of goals from Gary Twigg and a first-half strike by Gary McCabe proved decisive at the Tallaght Stadium last night, as Stephen Kenny’s outfit got back to winning aways against Drogheda United.
This encounter between third and fourth had a unique piece of history about it, as it saw all four Brennan brothers starting in the one game.
Former Bohs man Killian lined out in the Rovers midfield, while his siblings Ryan, Gavin and Sean were with their native Drogheda.
The manner of their sixth triumph of the campaign was pleasing to Kenny.
“Drogheda are going well. They’ve had a good season. We’ve obviously had a rocky period over the last couple of weeks, losing last week,” he said.
“So, it was important to come back in the manner that we did, and we won convincingly I felt.”.
Tiernan Mulvenna had a promising opening for the visitors in the opening moments following a
flick by Ryan Brennan, but his strike was held by Rovers keeper Oscar Jansson.
But it was Kenny’s Hoops who had the better of the early exchanges and, following good work from Billy Dennehy and McCabe, they had their first chance on five minutes when Gary O’Neill dragged his effort past the left-hand post.
Compact
Drogheda were proving to be tight and compact in defence, though Killian Brennan was inches away from finding the net on 25 minutes.
Any fears the Rovers faithful may have had were soon eased, when McCabe squeezed a shot from the right-hand side past Gabriel Sava on 31 minutes.
Sean Brennan and Alan McNally both went close to levelling moments later.
Sean Brennan forced a fine save from Jansson on 41 minutes.
Dennehy did have the ball in the net just two minutes later after Sava had saved from Twigg, but it was ultimately ruled out for offside.
Twigg lashed the ball past a helpless Sava from inside the area ten minutes into the second half after a neat one-two with O’Neill.
Rovers were slightly lucky to still have 11 men on the field at this point, as McCabe had appeared to go in over the top for a challenge with Sean Brennan on the right-wing, but no action was taken by ref Alan Kelly.
Killian Brennan forced a terrific stop from Sava on 63 minutes, and had the Drogheda netminder beaten 13 minutes later with a 30-yard belter, only to be denied by the woodwork.
Twigg then registered his 14th goal of the season following a goalmouth scramble after Ken Oman’s effort had been stopped.
Drogheda did get a well-earned consolation with just a minute of normal time remaining when Declan ‘Fabio’ O’Brien found a way past Jansson with a superbly executed curled shot off his right peg from
outside the area.
SHAMROCK ROVERS: Jansson 7; Gilbert 6 (Gannon h-t, 7), Sives 7, Oman 7, Powell 7; McCabe 8 (McCormack 87), Rice 7, K Brennan 7, Dennehy 7; Twigg 8, O’Neill 8 (Kavanagh 84). Subs not used: Pieterse, Hawkins, O’Donnell, Greene.
DROGHEDA UNITED: Sava 7; Foley 6, McNally 7, Prendergast 6, Hand 6, G Brennan 6, R Brennan 7, Crowley 6 (M O’Brien 64, 6), S Brennan 6 (Marshall 72, 6); D O’Brien 7, Mulvenna 6 (Hynes 63, 6).
Subs not used: Brady, Marshall, Breen, Finnegan, O’Keefe.
REFEREE: A Kelly (Cork).