Defences ruled the roost on a night when there were three goalless draws in the Airtricity League, while Shamrock Rovers went top with a victory over St. Pat’s at Tallaght Stadium.
Shamrock Rovers 2-0 St. Patrick’s Athletic
Reigning champions Shamrock Rovers continued their magnificent start to the season with a fine victory over St. Pat’s in an entertaining affair at Tallaght Stadium.
Goals from Chris Turner and Ken Oman made the difference and helped put the Hoops on top of the table after three wins from their first three games.
Turner put the hosts in front after 11 minutes with a spectacular effort from 25 yards after Gary McCabe and Ronan Finn were heavily involved in some attractive build-up play.
Rovers should have gone two in front on the stroke of half time when Evan McMillan brought down Gary O’Neill in the area, but Pat’s goalkeeper Gary Rogers did well to turn McCabe’s spot-kick around the post.
Having been dominated in the opening half, Pat’s were far better after the break, but Rovers continued to create the better chances.
Billy Dennehy lashed a shot high and wide just after the hour and the Hoops were nearly made to pay for their profligacy when Dave Mulcahy headed Stephen Bradley’s free-narrowly wide minutes later.
Ken Oman made sure of the points after 82 minutes when he headed in Billy Dennehy’s corner to seal a victory that, ominously for the rest of the league, leaves Michael O’Neill’s side sitting pretty at the top of the table with a maximum nine points.
Dundalk 0-0 Bohemians
There were no goals at Oriel Park, but two sides with lofty aspirations for the season produced a cracking contest.
Stephen Maher and Mark Quigley had early chances to open the scoring for the home side, while Christy Fagan should have done better from an Owen Heary cross after 24 minutes.
Quigley and Jason Byrne went close for Dundalk just after the half hour mark, while Bohs’ Mark Rossiter forced a good save from Peter Cherrie as the half drew to a close.
Cherrie was called into action again after the break when he clawed away Steven Traynor’s effort, while Nathan Murphy cleared a Christy Fagan shot off the line as the Gypsies piled on the pressure.
Owen Heary cleared a Johnny Breen effort off the line and Daniel Kearns forced a good stop from Barry Murphy as the chances continued to flow, and Dundalk had what looked like a clear penalty turned down five minutes from time when Ollie Cahill brought down Kearns in the box.
No side could break the deadlock before the finish and the game ended all square, which was probably a fair result.
Bray Wanderers 0-0 Sligo Rovers
A week after their magnificent victory over St. Pat’s, Bray Wanderers held title contenders Sligo Rovers to a draw at the Carlisle Grounds.
The visitors dominated possession and looked the more likely to come out on top, but Wanderers defended well to hold on to a valuable point.
With only five minutes gone, Sligo’s John Russell delivered a warning shot to the hosts with a cracking long range effort that clipped the top of the crossbar with Matt Gregg beaten all ends up.
Jake Kelly went close with a lobbed effort for Bray after half an hour, while Russell beat Gregg shortly after, but his effort narrowly cleared the crossbar and ended up on the top of the net.
Two minutes after the restart, John Mulroy hit the post for Bray with an excellent effort from outside the area and the hosts narrowly avoided going behind ten minutes into the half when Gavin Peers’ header hit Eoin Doyle and fell into the arms of a grateful Gregg on the line.
Substitute Raffaele Cretaro had a great chance to win the game for Sligo before the finish, but his dinked effort went wide of the post and Bray hung on for a point.
Galway United 0-0 UCD
Galway’s Greg Fleming and UCD goalkeeper Ger Barron delivered excellent displays between the sticks as the Tribesmen and the Students played out the third goalless draw of the evening in the Airtricity League.
Alan Murphy nearly put the hosts in front ten minutes in but his excellent long range free-kick struck the post. Murphy and Brian Cash had further chances to open the scoring, while Barron did well to save a well-struck effort from Joseph Yoffe before the break.
UCD were awarded a penalty immediately after half time when Fleming brought down Darren Meenan in the area, but the Galway netminder atoned for his error by saving Graham Rusk’s spot-kick.
Both goalkeepers were called into action in the closing stages; Ger Barron saved from Karl Moore, while Fleming denied Daniel Ledwith and Yael Haro as both sides came away from Terryland Park with a clean sheet and a point.
Drogheda United 2-2 Derry City
Drogheda United came from behind to claim their first point of the new season against Derry City at Hunky Dory’s Park.
Despite a promising start, Drogheda fell behind early on when Eamon Zayed tapped the ball home after a Stephen McLaughlin cross from the left wing.
Zayed hit the crossbar on the stroke of half time, but Gareth McGlynn doubled the Candystripes’ lead nine minutes after the break with a lovely effort from 20 yards.
It seemed as if it was game over at this stage, but Drogheda were given hope when they pulled a goal back through Colin O’Brien just after the hour mark.
O’Brien struck a fine effort from outside the area to reduce Derry’s lead and a minute later, was brought down by Gerard Doherty in the penalty area, giving David Freeman the chance to level from the spot, which he took with a confident strike.
Both sides had chances to win it before the finish, but neither side managed to add to their tally and had to settle for a share of the spoils.
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