MATCH REPORT: Shelbourne FC 1-2 Shamrock Rovers
Substitute Aaron Greene broke the hearts of the home support, as he netted an 89th-minute winner in Tolka Park to send Stephen Bradley's side home with all 3 points.
After defeating Sligo Rovers away from home last Saturday, Damien Duff's side were in high spirits heading into tonight's Dublin Derby against Shamrock Rovers. However, their high spirits didn't last long as the score-line was broken after just two minutes played.
Ronan Finn picked up a lose ball in a central position, and found Richie Towell down the left-hand channel. Towell laid off to the on-coming Andy Lyons and he coolly slotted home from 15 yards out to net his third goal in of the season - after netting two in Shamrock Rovers' 3-0 win away to Finn Harps only last Friday.
Dan Carr & Graham Burke both exchanged chances inside the first-half between the sides, but it was Shamrock Rovers who controlled the tempo of the first-half, and went into the break leading thanks to Lyons' early effort.
15 minutes into the second-half, Damien Duff opted to bring on Daniel Hawkins & Shane Griffin in the hope of the home side creating more goal-mouth chances. And just two minutes later, Duff and three sides of Tolka Park were sent into ruptures when Shane Farrell levelled the scoring.
Mis-communication between Jack Byrne & Lee Grace saw Mark Coyle pick up the lose ball in the middle of the park, who found Kameron Ledwidge down the left-wing. Ledwidge drove at the Rovers defence, before firing an inch-perfect ball to Alan Mannus' back-post to Shane Farrell, who had the simplest of tap-ins to level the scoring with 30 minutes to go.
The equaliser really brought Shelbourne to life, as they began to hold onto the ball for longer periods and force the away side into unusual mistakes. However, the hard-work done by Shelbourne was broken by Aaron Greene in the 89th minute.
Substitute Danny Mandroiu picked up a loose ball and ran at the Shelbourne defence, before firing a low-ball along the edge of the Shels 18-yard box which fell to the feet of Aaron Greene. Greene twisted and turned before firing an unstoppable effort beyond Brendan Clarke in the Shelbourne net to send the Hoops fans into bedlam in the Ballybough end of Tolka Park.
Rovers saw out the remaining couple of minutes of injury time to pick up back-to-back away wins for the first time this season. Shelbourne will be hurt by the score-line, but certainly proved that they'll be no pushover this season in the SSE Airtricity League Premier Division.
Next up for Damien Duffs side is a trip up to the Ryan McBride Brandywell Stadium next Friday to take on league leaders Derry City (7:45pm kick-off), whilst Shamrock Rovers welcome fellow title-challengers St. Patrick's Athletic to Tallaght on the same night (8pm kick-off).
Shelbourne: Clarke; Wilson, O'Driscoll, Byrne (C), Kane (57' Griffin), Ledwidge; Coyle, McEneff (57' Hawkins), Dervin; Farrell (86' Anaebonam), Carr (77' Boyd).
Shamrock Rovers: Mannus; Gannon, Hoare, Grace; Finn (C) (83' Farrugia), O'Neill, Towell (83' Greene), Lyons; Byrne (72' Watts), Gaffney, Burke (76' Mandroiu).