Shamrock Rovers 2
Duffy 37', Flood 48'
Finn Harps 0

Tolka Park - Tuesday 11th July 2006 ko 8.00pm

Rovers Line-Out

1 Barry Murphy, 2 Ray Kenny, 3 Robbie Clarke, 4 Aidan Price, 5 Ian Ryan, 6 Vinny Perth, 7 Jamie Duffy, 8 Mark O'Brien, 9 Tadhg Purcell, 10 Philip Sheppard, 11 Dave O'Connor .

Substitutes : 13 Willie Doyle for Sheppard 83', 14 Eric McGill, 15 Anto Flood for Purcell 35', 16 Dave Cassidy for Clarke 77', 20 John McGuinness.

Match Report

After a poor opening 15 minutes the hard working Sheppard was sent in on goal but his early shot went just wide. With both Mark O'Brien and Vinny Perth making their home debut in midfield there was an air of expectation in the ground. A Duffy free-kick was whipped in on 20 mins. but Ian Ryan couldn't guide his header on goal after Sheppards flick on. At the other end Barry Murphy had to be quick off his line to gather the ball as the Harps number two threatened.

The game went quiet again as Rovers struggled in front of goal but the introduction of on-loan striker Anto Flood for the injured Purcell livened things up and after 37 mins. a fine O'Connor cross was headed on by Flood and fell to Duffy at the back post and the Hoops number seven blasted the ball into the top corner for the opening goal. Some good running by Sheppard in the 41st minute saw Flood knocking the ball through to O'Connor but his shot went across goal.

The second-half was barely 2 minutes old when Flood turned well on the edge of the box and forced the Harps 'keeper into a fine one-handed save. However the tall striker was not to be denied when a minute later he rose at the back post to head home Sheppards deep cross. However Murphy reacted well at the other end in the 55th min. to race from his line and block a shot from inside the Hoops area. Flood done well again in the 56th minute when picking out the run of O'Brien but his first touch wasn't great and the Harps 'keeper got out to block his effort. Just after the hour O'Brien found O'Connor on the overlap down the left but his low dangerous cross was cleared.

Harps were pushing players forward looking to get back into the game but poor crossing and shooting let them down. Rovers had a couple of efforts in the last ten minutes when firstly Perth and Duffy combined but Sheppards shot was blocked and then Cassidy raced down the left and although the cross was too high for Flood, Jamie Duffy connected with the ball at the back post but his effort was inches wide. Murphy denied Harps a late consolation tipping over a free-kick in the dying minutes.