Shamrock Rovers aim to maintain nine-point lead in Cork City clash
Dan McDonnell and Seán O'Connor preview Friday's five League of Ireland Premier Division games with Shamrock Rovers hoping to maintain their nine-point lead against Cork City, while champions Shelbourne host Derry City at Tolka Park.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Irish Times
2 hours ago
- Irish Times
Derry jump to fourth with win over Shelbourne at Tolka Park
League of Ireland: Shelbourne 0 Derry City 1 (Duffy 55) A piece of Michael Duffy magic undid Shelbourne at Tolka Park as Derry City won for the first time in five outings to Dublin this season. Winger Duffy's glorious second half finish was no more than Tiernan Lynch's side deserved as they avenged their opening-night defeat to the champions in Drumcondra. Shelbourne can have few complaints as Derry leapfrog them up to fourth place in the table having controlled the pattern of the game for an hour, Damien Duff's Reds only really coming alive after they had fallen behind. In stiflingly warm conditions, with the temperature registering 24 degrees at kick-off, Shelbourne began brightly as they initially took the game to their visitors. READ MORE But it was Derry who were first to threaten, and on the double at that. The first chance on eight minutes stemmed from sloppy Shels play as JJ Lunney's pass was easily intercepted by Duffy. That set up Liam Boyce whose attempted chip over Conor Kearns had just too much on it. A minute later Shels were stretched at the back as Gavin Whyte put Boyce in behind down the right. Kearns did enough to narrow the angle with the striker's dink bobbling wide across goal. Shels responded with a promising opening of their own from the game's first corner on 11 minutes. Sam Bone in action for Shelbourne. Photograph: Ryan Byrne/Inpho Harry Wood's delivery was on the money for Sean Boyd who rose above everyone to plant his firm header inches over Brian Maher's crossbar. Passing the ball well, with Sadou Diallo and Carl Winchester influential in the middle of the park, Derry began to control the game as Shels were struggling to get on the ball. Despite their possession though, Derry weren't really hurting Shelbourne, who seemed content to sit off and play on the counter. A break for Kearns needing attention allowed Duff the opportunity to give his players a talking to on the sideline. And the reset almost brought a reward on 36 minutes as Shels carved Derry open for the only time in a frustrating first half for the home side. Wood's cross was met by a Boyd header with Maher making a fine save in touching the ball out for a goal kick off the lurking John Martin. Duff withdrew Martin and Kerr McInroy at half-time with Mipo Odubeko and Ellis Chapman introduced in the hope of enlivening his side. It was more of the same though as Derry promptly regained the initiative with Kearns force into a parry save from a Whyte drive after Shels gave the ball away cheaply. A sliding doors moment then almost brought a Shelbourne goal at one head before Derry struck for a deserved lead at the other on 54 minutes. Shelbourne manager Damien Duff during the game at Tolka Park. Photograph: Ryan Byrne/Inpho First Evan Caffrey saw his chip headed away by Sam Todd with Maher stranded after colliding with Boyd. Derry immediately broke with Winchester's sweeping pass, finding Duffy on the right. A clever step-over wronged footed Kameron Ledwidge to allow Duffy get the ball onto his left foot and find the far top corner with a sublime curling shot for his seventh goal of the season. Though Shelbourne owned much of the ball for the remainder of the game, Maher scarcely had a save to make as Derry had done more than enough to take home the points. Elsewhere, Michael Noonan scored twice as bang in-form Shamrock Rovers beat Cork City 4-1 in a top-versus-bottom clash at Tallaght Stadium to register their eighth win in nine games to stretch their lead to 11 points. A Douglas James-Taylor goal gave Drogheda Untied a 1-0 home win against Sligo Rovers as they regained second place in the table. St Patrick's Athletic's worries continued as they were beaten 3-1 at Galway United while Bohemians' good run ended with a 2-1 defeat to Waterford at the RSC. SHELBOURNE: Kearns; Bone, Barrett, Ledwidge; Caffrey, Lunney, McInroy (Chapman, h-t), Norris (Coote, 63); Wood (O'Sullivan, 77), Martin (Odubeko, h-t), Boyd (Kelly, 63). DERRY CITY: Maher; Cann, Connolly, Holt; R Boyce, Diallo (McMullan, 62), Winchester (Hoban, 89), Todd; White (Benson, 62), Duffy; L Boyce (Mullen, 62).
Irish Examiner
2 hours ago
- Irish Examiner
Duffy's moment of magic earns Derry victory over Shels
SSE Airtricity Premier Division: Shelbourne 0 Derry City 1 A piece of Michael Duffy magic undid Shelbourne at Tolka Park as Derry City won for the first time in five outings to Dublin this season. Winger Duffy's glorious second half finish was no more than Tiernan Lynch's side deserved as they avenged their opening night defeat to the champions in Drumcondra. Shelbourne can have few complaints as Derry leapfrog them up to fourth place in the table having controlled the pattern of the game for an hour, Damien Duff's Reds only really came alive after they had fallen behind. In stiflingly warm conditions, with the temperature registering 24 degrees at kick-off, Shelbourne began brightly as they initially took the game to their visitors. But it was Derry who were first to threaten, and on the double at that. The first chance on eight minutes stemmed from sloppy Shels play as JJ Lunney's pass was easily intercepted by Duffy. That set up Liam Boyce whose attempted chip over Conor Kearns had just too much on it. A minute later Shels were stretched at the back as Gavin Whyte put Boyce in behind down the right. Kearns did enough to narrow the angle with the striker's dink bobbling wide across goal. Shels responded with a promising opening of their own from the game's first corner on 11 minutes. Harry Wood's delivery was on the money for Sean Boyd who rose above everyone to plant his firm header inches over Brian Maher's crossbar. Passing the ball well, with Sadou Diallo and Carl Winchester influential in the middle of the park, Derry began to control the game as Shels were struggling to get on the ball. Despite their possession, though, Derry weren't really hurting Shelbourne who seemed content to sit off and play on the counter. A break for Kearns needing attention allowed Duff the opportunity to give his players a talking to on the sideline. And the reset almost brought a reward on 36 minutes as Shels carved Derry open for the only time in a frustrating first half for the home side. Wood's cross was met by a Boyd header with Maher making a fine save in touching the ball out for a goal kick off the lurking John Martin. Duff withdrew Martin and Kerr McInroy at half-time with Mipo Odubeko and Ellis Chapman introduced in the hope of enlivening his side. It was more of the same, though, as Derry promptly regained the initiative with Kearns forced into a parry save from a Whyte drive after Shels gave the ball away cheaply. A sliding doors moment then almost brought a Shelbourne goal at one end before Derry struck for a deserved lead at the other on 54 minutes. First Evan Caffrey saw his chip headed away by Sam Todd with Maher stranded after colliding with Boyd. Derry immediately broke with Winchester's sweeping pass finding Duffy on the right. A clever step-over wronged footed Kameron Ledwidge to allow Duffy get the ball onto his left foot and find the far top corner with a sublime curling shot for his seventh goal of the season. Though Shelbourne owned much of the ball for the remainder of the game, Maher scarcely had a save to make as Derry had done more than enough to take home the points. SHELBOURNE: Kearns; Bone, Barrett, Ledwidge; Caffrey, Lunney, McInroy (Chapman, h-t), Norris (Coote, 63); Wood (O'Sullivan, 77), Martin (Odubeko, h-t), Boyd (Kelly, 63). DERRY CITY: Maher; Cann, Connolly, Holt; R. Boyce, Diallo (McMullan, 62), Winchester (Hoban, 89), Todd; White (Benson, 62), Duffy; L. Boyce (Mullen, 62). Referee: Neil Doyle (Dublin).
Irish Examiner
2 hours ago
- Irish Examiner
Runaway leaders Shamrock Rovers inflict more damage on Cork City
SHAMROCK ROVERS 4 (Michael Noonan 6, 29, Pico Lopes 26, Rory Gaffney 49) CORK CITY 1 (Alex Nolan 69) Orange was the appropriate colour donned by Cork City as despite the sunniest day of the year they felt a relegation gale warning. Their survival prospects won't be defined by another humbling from runaway leaders but the manner of this meek surrender, a week after Bohemians schooled them at home, will cause alarm. A bright start for the visitors was soon punctuated by 16-year-old Michael Noonan being allowed to slalom into the box and fire the opener for Shamrock Rovers beneath Tein Troost. Another pair of goals were conceded to Pico Lopes and Noonan merely over two minutes apart, leaving the game effectively over as a contest by the half hour mark. Rory Gaffney completed the rout four minutes after the restart before City substitute Alex Nolan bundled home a consolation. If that coming with 21 minutes remaining might have signalled a comeback, then the respective positions at the summit and foot of the table injected reality into the assumption. Rovers, resting several mainstays including Jack Byrne, Graham Burke and Matt Healy for Monday's derby against Bohemians, were always in cruise control. There was never any inkling of the 4-4 draw at Tallaght from City's last Premier Division campaign. City sit where they never were during that relegation season of two years ago, rock bottom, and the new management of Ger Nash and David Meyler will circle back-to-back home games against Drogheda United on Monday and St Patrick's Athletic four days later as pivotal. Eight-placed Waterford extending their buffer to 13 points reduces further the hopes of avoiding the relegation playoff but the pressing challenge as the games remaining dissolve is avoiding the automatic drop. City have lost over half their 20 matches with all Nash having to show from his four games to date a draw at home to Shelbourne. Holding the champions raised talk of a revival yet it can be perceived as a false dawn, for the traditional managerial bounce hasn't materialised. His decision to cull captain Charlie Lyons from the starting line-up spoke of decisiveness from his early takeaways but the central defensive duo in his place were given the runaround by rampant Rovers. Lyons was introduced at the break, along with another experienced campaigner, Seán Murray, in a bid to stem the bleeding. Those calls followed an impromptu discussion between Nash and his recently appointed assistant after being subjected to another sobering 45 minutes. Djanairo Daniels looked to have set the tone with a shove on Danny Mandroiu within moments of kick-off followed by a shot wide but the rest of the half would be spent predominantly inside City's half. Their livewire Cathal O'Sullivan was impeded from playing out of it in the passage of play leading up the opener. Once his pass inside was nicked off the toe of Kitt Nelson, two passes later and O'Sullivan was raiding into the box. He chopped beyond both City's centre-backs, Darragh Crowley and Freddie Anderson, before tucking a soft shot beneath an unusually poor Troost. Malik Dijksteel did test Ed McGinty and Evan McLaughlin fired over but two quickfire goals made it 3-0. O'Sullivan's clumsy 26th minute tackle on Trevor Clarke incurred a booking and free-kick, which Dylan Watts curled in for Lopes to elude Crowley and power home with a thumping header. City were dissected again from the next attack, Noonan slipping in between the two defenders to stroke home his second. Further slack defending on the turnover cost the Rebels when Mandroiu sent Gaffney clear past the lost Josh Fitzpatrick. All the veteran striker had to do was roll the ball into the net. It was keep-ball for Rovers thereafter with a spate of subs from both sides. Whereas Milan Mbeng hooked a clear sight on goal wide, Nolan didn't miss with his, despite defender John O'Sullivan attempting to prevent it crossing the line. SHAMROCK ROVERS: E McGinty; D Cleary, R Lopes, C O'Sullivan; D Grant (A McEneff 73), D Watts (C Barrett 52), J O'Sullivan, T Clarke (M Kovalevskis 46); R Gaffney, D Mandroiu (G O'Neill 52); M Noonan. CORK CITY: T Tein; M Mbeng (H Nevin 61), F Anderson, D Crowley, J Fitzpatrick; E McLaughlin, G Bolger; C O'Sullivan (A Nolan 66), K Nelson (S Murray 46), M Dijksteel (C Lyons 46); D Daniels (S Maguire 61). Referee: A O'Dowd (Dublin). Attendance: 4,355.
