Shamrock Rovers 2-0 Shelbourne

Shamrock Rovers 2 (Ebbe, Byrne) Shelbourne 0

FAI Airtricity Under 19 National League 8th January , 2012 at Tallaght Stadium

A goal in each half secured full points for the Hoops when they came up against Shelbourne for the second time this season in the Airtricity Under 19 National League. The Reds will look back on this game and feel that although they played second fiddle to the Hoops for much of the encounter they might have taken a point as Rovers left it late to wrap up the tie. From a green and white perspective though the home team very much dominated the game. Nobody who witnessed this keenly contested encounter at Tallaght Stadium would deny though that were it not for the heroics, and that’s the absolute correct term to use, of the Reds’ keeper Dean Smith the Hoops could very well have won this game by a much larger margin. It seemed that time and time again, when the Shels defence had been breached, Smith managed to get a foot or a hand to deny a certain goal.

Smith laid down his marker as early as the sixteenth minute when he managed to stick out his foot to deny Kelvin Jackson after the diminutive winger had been sent on his way by Dean Ebbe. That was the first of at least half a dozen such saves by the ’keeper. However, there wasn’t much that even Smith could do when Rovers took the lead in the nineteenth minute. Following a Hoops’ attack, the Reds’ keeper elected to kick the ball out to his right but it bounced and caught out Mark Campbell who was positioned close to the line. Hoops’ striker Thomas O’Rourke reacted quickly and, seizing on the loose ball, burst past Campbell to deliver it into the box where the unmarked Ebbe connected with it and beat Smith for the opening goal. Soon after that the Hoops went close again when Lorcan Shannon had a shot and then Shels had a good move broken up by Jackson when he managed to take the ball off Dean Mason for a throw in on the right. Jackson was fouled outside the box in the twenty-eight minute and this was the third free that Rovers had been awarded in almost the exact same spot. Ciaran Doyne wasn’t too pleased with his teammate Stephen Sheerin when the latter took a shot in the thirty-fourth minute but perhaps he hadn’t seen Doyne on his left. The Hoops were dominating the exchanges at this stage though and although the Reds did manage to mount some penetrating raids into the Hoops’ box they found it hard to break down the rearguard of Dean Power, Marc Keeley, Garry Comerford and the ever consistent Jack Memery.

Photo caption: Marc Keeley, pictured on the ball, gave another solid performance at centre half

Rovers were even more in control of the action in the second half. Shels ’keeper Smith somehow managed to deny O’Rourke in the fifty-third minute after the striker benefited from great work by the energetic Shannon. The Reds did managed two efforts worth noting in the few minutes that followed. Substitute Karl Moody got the ball in to Ciaran Doyne and while Doyne managed to get in a shot the Hoops’ keeper Lee Steacy was quick to snuff out the danger. Shels had another good chance immediately after that when Lenon Killeen headed just over the bar.

Having weathered that dangerous period the Hoops were back into attack mould once again as they attempted to squeeze the visitors back into their own half. Paul Moffat shot just wide of the upright and after Dean Power got the ball into Ebbe the Reds’ keeper once again managed to make one of his tremendous saves. Smith was alert again when, in the seventy-fifth minute, Garry Comerford delivered a clever free kick from the edge of the box and almost caught the ‘keeper out. Mason had a free kick saved then at the other end by Steacy. After Smith again saved from Ciaran Byrne and then Shannon, the second goal finally came as the clock began to tick down. Shannon delivered a perfect ball in from the right there was panic stations in the box in the attack that followed and the move resulted in Byrne making no mistake in getting the ball over the line to seal the victory.

Shamrock Rovers: 1 Lee Steacy. 2 Power. 3 Jack Memery. 4 Garry Comerford. 5 Marc Keeley. 6 Niall Forrester (Byrne 68 mins). 7 Lorcan Shannon. 8 Paul Moffat. 9 Kelvin Jackson (Murphy 39 mins). 10 Dean Ebbe. 11 Thomas O’Rourke (Kenna 60 mins).

Substitutes: 13 Donal Branagan. 14 James Mullaney. 15 Charlie Kenna. 16 Patrick Reilly. 17 Jason Murphy. 18 Ciaran Byrne. 19 Paul Connolly.

Shelbourne: 1 Dean Smith. 2 Dean Mason. 3 James Traynor. 4 Mark Campbell. 5 Ger Carroll. 6 Charlie Curran. 7 Stephen Doyne (Moody 56 mins). 8 Stephen Sheerin. 9 Luke McCarthy. 10 Lenon Killeen. 11 Ciaran Doyne.

Substitutes: 12 Karl Moody. 14 Stephen Lawless. 20 Stephen Payne

Match report compiled by Robert Goggins