A devastating burst of three goals inside five first half minutes ensured Shamrock Rovers romped to a facile 7-0 victory over U.C.D. at Tallaght Stadium. Already one up following Graham Cummins’ 13th minute strike, his first goal for the club, the H
A devastating burst of three goals inside five first half minutes ensured Shamrock Rovers romped to a facile 7-0 victory over U.C.D. at Tallaght Stadium.
Already one up following Graham Cummins’ 13th minute strike, his first goal for the club, the Hoops swooped for three more in the 19th, 21st and 23rd minutes. First, Aaron McEneff found himself all alone at the near post and he steered home Jack Byrne’s right wing corner with a neat header.
Then Dan Carr got on the end of a Sean Kavanagh cross from right to stab home before the hugely impressive Jack Byrne dribbled past some static U.C.D. defenders before slotting an emphatic finish to make it four.
All this transpired in a period that the hosts were playing into the wind and rain. The Students were restricted to a couple of rasping shots by Jason McClelland and Jack Keaney, which the vigilant Alan Mannus dealt with capably and a Danu Kinsella Bishop shot that was deflected for a corner.
On a blustery afternoon, punctuated by heavy showers, Cummins took advantage of Jack Byrne’s pass to drive the ball home off the body of overworked U.C.D. keeper Gavin Sheridan to give Rovers an early lead.
Two minutes after the break, McEneff compounded U.C.D’s misery with a low conversion of an unselfish square pass from half-time substitute Aaron Greene after another sublime Byrne through ball.
Greene himself got in on the act before the hour mark with a deft near post glancing header from a Kavanagh cross. And the ex-Bray man capitalized on a defensive error to slot the seventh into the bottom corner with thirteen minutes remaining.
It might have been an unusual timeslot and Roberto Lopes may have been skipper for the day but Rovers march on and still have Dundalk in their sights.
