Derry City went a point behind Shamrock Rovers as they collected their third win in 10 games, beating Limerick 2-1 at The Brandywell. After a lively start, Limerick’s Connor Ellis smashed his effort off the crossbar to give his side the lead 10 min
Derry City went a point behind Shamrock Rovers as they collected their third win in 10 games, beating Limerick 2-1 at The Brandywell.
After a lively start, Limerick’s Connor Ellis smashed his effort off the crossbar to give his side the lead 10 minutes from the interval. But the struggling Limerick failed to hold their nerve, as they fell behind through goals by Derry debutant’s Aaron Splaine and Ally Roy.
Ellis almost bundled home after one minute of time played. The Limerick striker pounced at his chance, which deflected off the post, to the relief of the defending debutant, David Seaborne.
Seaborne wasn’t the only player making their first appearance for the Candy Stripes, as Ally Roy, Aaron Splaine and Ben Fisk, who made his first start for the club against Shamrock Rovers, were introduced into the starting eleven.
After 20 minutes, Ben Fisk called Tommy Holland into action when Aaron McEneff got onto the end of a well whipped in cross, but Holland just did enough to keep the game level.
It proved to be a big save, as Ellis later powered his effort off the Derry crossbar, giving Gerard Doherty no chance, and Limerick a well-deserved lead. Limerick looked good for their advantage, causing City plenty of problems, but Splaine pulled off a superb strike to equalise for the Foylesiders almost immediately.
In the second half, Striker Ally Roy took many by surprise, going through on goal 30 seconds into the second period and he ruthlessly slotted his effort into the bottom corner.
As the assistant referee held up four-minutes of injury-time, Barry Maguire found himself inside the City penalty area for the umpteenth time, but Doherty spared his back-four's blushes with a superb stop to eventually give Derry City victory.
