Galway Utd. 1
Moran 54'
Shamrock Rovers 0

Terryland Park - Friday 2nd June 2006

Rovers Line-Out

20 John McGuinness, 2 Ger O'Brien, 3 Robbie Clarke, 4 Aidan Price, 5 Ray Kenny, 6 Ray Scully, 7 Jamie Duffy , 8 Dave Cassidy , 9 Philip Sheppard , 10 Tadhg Purcell , 11 Robbie Shields.

Substitutes : 1 Barry Murphy, 13 Willie Doyle (Shields 73'), 14 Barry Prendeville(O'Brien 13'), 15 Padraig Amond (Sheppard 67'), 16 Eric McGill.

Match Report

The Hoops lost their unbeaten run in the league in a game in which they never really got going. It was difficult to play good football on a very bumpy pitch and the physical nature of the game meant there was a lot of stoppages. The first half was a write-off with a succession of injuries and some over zealous refreeeing ensuring that there was no flow to the football.

Ger O'Brien hobbled off in the 13th minute to give new signing Barry Prendeville his debut. Dave Cassidy tried his luck from his own half in the 19th minute and had Gough scrambling back but his effort went just over. Phil Sheppard received a yellow card for knocking the ball into the net in the 26th minute after being flagged for offside. The home side had a chance in the 39th minute but number three blasted his effort well wide. Some nice skill from Cassidy in the 45th minute delivered a great low cross in front of goal but there was no-one on hand to apply the killer touch.

The second-half was a little better and unfortunately for Rovers it was the home side that started brightly. John McGuinness, making his debut in goal, brought off a wonderful save from a tremendous Murphy effort in the 50th minute having punched away a dangerous corner just two minutes earlier. A Purcell header on goal that lacked any power preceeded the opener from Galway in the 54th minute. Murphy played his part in a move down the left and a cross found the unmarked Moran at the back post and he scored from close range.

It took Rovers a while to get a grip on the game and they finally started to apply some real pressure in the 70th minute when Prendeville just failed to meet a corner. A couple of minutes later a Cassidy free-kick caused some problems but was eventually cleared. Jamie Duffy then went on a good run in the 76th minute and forced Gough to save his low shot. In the 78th minute a second Rovers corner in two minutes saw Gough punch clear.

Galway were playing on the break now as Rovers pushed Price up into attack. Prendeville threw himself at a free-kick from the right on 88 minutes but couldn't connect. As the game entered the 90th minute, Willie Doyle set-up Amond inside the box, he turned well and shot past Gough but a defender was on hand to clear off the line and the Hoops were doomed to their first defeat of the season.