St Patricks Athletic 0

Shamrock Rovers 2
Scorers : Ryan 71', Cassidy 80'.

Rovers Team

1 Barry Murphy, 2 Ger O'Brien, 3 Robbie Clarke, 4 Ian Ryan, 5 Ray Kenny, 6 Ray Scully, 7 Jamie Duffy, 8 Gareth Cooney,YC 9 Padraig Amond, 10 Philip Sheppard, 11 Cathal O'Connor. Substitutes : 13 Willie Doyle (Sheppard 74'), 14 Robbie Shields (O'Connor 63'), 15 Dave O'Connor, 16 Dave Cassidy (Amond 78'), 20 John McGuinness.

Match Report

Two goals in the last twenty minutes handed the Hoops a quarter final place against Premier division St Patricks. The Hoops battled hard all night and never let the home side get a grip on proceedings. The game started slowly but Murphy was called into action in the 13th minute saving with his feet from Molloy. Molloy again threatened two minutes later but slipped after a good turn in the box. The Hoops first attempt on goal came in the 20th minute when O'Connor latched on to Maguires headed clearance to fire a shot at Ryan but the Pats 'keeper held the ball well.

Padraig Amond got involved in the 26th minute when he latched on to a short back pass and beat Ryan to the ball but his shot was weak and couldn't beat the two defenders who got back. A minute later he almost got on the end of a Murphy kick-out. O'Brien sent in a great cross in the 26th minute but Amond slipped before he could reach it.

St Pats came close in the 32nd minute when Quigleys cross was met by Molloys back header but it went inches wide. Murphy then fumbled a Molloy effort on the greasy surface and from the resultant corner Maguire headed powerfully towards goal but hte Hoops defence scrambled the ball away. The second half was more open and both sides traded corner kicks without threatening too much. In the 53rd minute Kenny sent Sheppard away into the box on the left but he tried to lob Ryan and the Pats 'keeper saved easily. Ex-Hoops Mark Quigley nipped in at the near post to meet a low cross but luckily Murphy advanced to knock his goal bound effort away.

Reilly then smashed a free-kick into the side-netting as Pats looked like they would take control. However Rovers introduced the lively Shields and his pace started to cause problems down the left-hand side. The Hoops won two corners in succession in the 71st minute and Duffy crossed deep for Ian Ryan to powerfully head into the net for the opening goal.

The goal spurred Rovers on and Shields volleyed just over from Duffys free-kick. Dave Cassidy was then introduced and his first real involvement saw him take a lovely through ball from Duffy and smash the ball into the roof of the net past Ryan with 10 minutes to go.

Rovers were well on top now and as Pats threw men forward the Hoops exploited the gaps with Cassidy going close again after Maguires slip and then Jamie Duffy burst into the box and forced Ryan into a diving save. The Hoops defence stood firm and Pats couldn't break through.