Burke and Kenny help Rovers overcome Drogs despite their injuries.
With so many of the champions’ front-line players missing, Drogheda may have scented blood, but Rovers still had a strong front three on the field. In the end, they demonstrated the distinction.
Burke and Kenny help Rovers overcome Drogs despite their injuries.
Johnny Shamrock Rovers After Aaron McEneff scores his team’s first goal of the game, Kenny celebrates. Photograph: Tom Maher, Inpho
THURSDAY, MAY 31, 2024, 21:47
Barry Landy: Drogheda United 0-2 Shamrock Rovers in the Premier Division
Shamrock Rovers’ dependable goal scorers Johnny Kenny and Graham Burke dazzled at Weavers Park to defeat struggling Drogheda United despite their defense being completely destroyed by injury.
With so many of the champions’ front-line players out, Drogheda may have sensed an opportunity, but they nevertheless fielded a strong front three. In the end, they demonstrated the distinction.
Rovers were forced to deploy an unusual defensive lineup since Sean Hoare, Dan Cleary, Joshua Honohan, and Trevor Clarke were all injured, and Roberto Lopes was suspended.
The players would have been as unfamiliar with it as those bewildered spectators in the ground and in the stands were.
Lee Grace was the final man remaining, with midfielders Darragh Nugent and Markus Poom positioned on each side of him.
Young left wing-back Cory O’Sullivan made his Rovers debut in the league, while Aaron McEneff moved into midfield as Jack Byrne continued to be out.
Rovers had not lost to United in four home games against them, but in their previous two meetings, both at Tallaght Stadium, the champions had defeated their rivals by an overall score of nine to zero.
Finding a balance between maintaining tight control at one end and posing a danger to a defence that was thin at the other was crucial because Drogheda had let up seven goals in their two previous games against promoted opponents Galway and Waterford.
When the teams played each other in April, Doherty’s two goals in the first half injury time had destroyed his team’s ability to stay focused as the half was coming to a close.
Here, Drogheda scored the first goal just ninety seconds after the half ended. With an attempt that tucked into the far corner of the net, Kenny leapt onto Aaron Greene’s arcing pass and lifted a left-footed shot over Andrew Wogan.
After five minutes, Drogheda was no longer the only team in the game as the lead had doubled. Graham Burke had plenty of time and room to form and curl a shot from the box’s edge into the goal.
Rovers’ sole meaningful opportunity came in the first forty-five minutes of a highly contested match when McEneff’s hard-hit volley went narrowly over the bar. The well-traveled midfielder failed to give the goalkeeper enough dip on his 25-yard shot.
A dejected Drogheda club following some appalling results was perhaps the ideal foe for Stephen Bradley’s team, which was looking to rebound back from a week ago’s loss to league leaders Shelbourne.
Although United had recently suffered a few injuries that they caused themselves, they were mostly powerless to stop Rovers from scoring two goals early in the second half. They pierced any ambition for a scalp at home.
John O’Shea, the interim head coach of the Republic of Ireland, was one of the spectators in the Weavers Park stands.
As opposed to last week, when United collapsed with a two-nil lead, this time they seemed to be beyond the game. Darragh Markey showed excellent control in the penalty area, but Leon Pohls blocked his attempt after Frant Pierrot’s diving header went off target.
Rovers allowed pressure late on, and some brilliant deliveries from Evan Weir would have given the home team more of a chance to win.
On the other end, Wogan also made a nice save against Conan Noonan. Bradley’s team had a very successful night based on outcomes elsewhere.
Wogan; Foley (Brennan, 75), Markey, Bawa; Pierrot (Cailloce, 86); Heeney (Quinn, 75); Keaney, Cann, Weir (Kane, 86); Deegan, Gallagher (O’Brien, 86).
Shamrock Rovers: Greene, Burke (Watts, 76), Kenny (Dillon, 86), Noonan, McEneff (Barrett, 86), O’Sullivan; Pohls; Nugent, Grace, Poom; Farrugia (Towell, 67).
