A goal either side of half-time saw Shamrock Rovers come away with a 2-0 victory over St. Patrick's Athetic at Richmond Park on Monday night. A fiery start to the game saw Rovers win two early free kicks but each of Jack Byrne's efforts were headed
A goal either side of half-time saw Shamrock Rovers come away with a 2-0 victory over St. Patrick's Athetic at Richmond Park on Monday night. A fiery start to the game saw Rovers win two early free kicks but each of Jack Byrne's efforts were headed clear. The first major chance arrived for the away side on 20 minutes when Trevor Clarke's shot was turned behind by his namesake Brendan in the Pat's goal. A minute later, Mikey Drennan came close for Saints after being played through by Chris Forrester but his shot was saved by Alan Mannus. The home side came within inches of opening the scoring on 37 minutes when substitute Rhys McCabe hit a low long-range effort which trickled wide of the goal. In first half injury time, it was Rovers who took the lead when Dylan Watts set up Greg Bolger to hit a shot into the bottom corner. Five minutes after the restart, The Hoops doubled their lead after Watts was fouled outside the area by Jamie Lennon. Sean Kavanagh duly stepped up to fire the free kick home. The two goals appeared to flatten the Inchicore atmosphere and while Pat's tried with intent to turn the screw, they didn't really create any chances of note in the second half. Rovers, meanwhile, barely threatened after their second goal. The victory will be a welcome one for Rovers after they lost their previous two games to Bohemians and Dundalk. They remain in second place in the table, eight points behind The Lilywhites. Next up for Stephen Bradley's Hoops, a home game against Sligo Rovers on Friday night. The defeat for Pat's came after two successive wins and they remain in fifth place in the table ahead of a trip to Waterford on Friday.
