Aaron Greene and Danny Grant celebrate the striker’s 101st League of Ireland goal at Tallaght Stadium. Photo: David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile
Shamrock Rovers knocked Drogheda off the top of the table with what was ultimately quite a comfortable victory over this season’s Boyneside surprise package. The first half was uninspiring from both sides but the Hoops improved considerably in the second half and deserved the goals they got through Aaron Greene, Lee Grace and Rory Gaffney.
The pre-match build was dominated by some interesting Stephen Bradley comments on Drog’s supposed use of the dark arts, but the first half completely failed to live up to that intrigue. Drogheda’s team bus had already done enough work by getting them 60km down the road to Tallaght on Friday afternoon, but they as well had parked it in the middle of the pitch in the first half, such was the extent of their pragmatic approach.
Doherty deployed his typical back five shape, with a bank of four in front, and Douglas James-Taylor ploughing a lonely furrow up top. Rovers lined up in a more attacking 3-5-2 but their more technical and progressive players struggled to break down the low block in front of them. Shane Farrell put a dangerous free kick just wide after twelve minutes, whilst Burke and Jack Byrne had half-chances about ten minutes later.
The first incident to provoke any real excitement was the penalty awarded to Rovers after Josh Honohan was caught by ex – LA Galaxy man Owen Lambe in the box, with thirty-three minutes on the clock. Burke stepped up to make a complete mess of the spot-kick though, watching it brush off the post and then trickle wide.
The last fifteen minutes of the half saw little incident, with Warren Davis fluffing a chance that would have been offside anyway, and Rovers continuing to have plenty of sterile possession.
Bradley must have got stuck into his charges at half-time because they looked a different side in the second-half. Lee Grace curled a lovely pass in behind Drogs low-block four minutes after the restart, and with Elicha Ahui keeping him onside, Aaron Greene arched his run and then knocked a brilliant volleyed strike past Luke Dennison.
Rovers pushed on and after Dennison did well to stop late arriving holding midfielder Matty Healy a couple of minutes later, it wasn’t long before the ball was in the back of the net again. Byrne whipped the resulting corner in and George Cooper was no match for Grace, who leapt and headed past Dennison excellently.
Rovers controlled the rest of the game, with the Louth men looking tired and uninspired. Subs such as wonderkids Michael Noonan and Victor Ozhianvuna looked sharp and showed the depth at Bradley’s disposal. They got a deserved third goal in added time. John O’Sullivan launched a ball over the top for Kildare kid Noonan to run on to. He was brave in going for it and colliding with Dennison, allowing Gaffney to pick up the loose ball and walk it across the line.
Some of the Boyne-siders will at least have Sunday’s Leinster Gaelic football championship against Meath at Croke Park to look forward to, and they’ll want to switch attention to that because their side didn’t show up tonight. Ahui was excellent for the most part and James-Taylor worked his socks off, but they never got a real foothold in the game.
Rovers struggled in the first half but improved through a combination of leaders such as Byrne and Greene stepping up, alongside a slight change in Drogheda’s second-half approach where they left a little more space in behind and weren’t as compact. The fact that they were able to do it without the injured Dan Cleary, Dylan Watts, Aaron McEneff and Danny Mandroiu makes this victory even more impressive.