Shamrock Rovers 2
Flood 67' Purcell 72'
Kilkenny City 0

Tolka Park - Friday 18th August 2006 ko 8.00pm

Rovers Line-Out

1 Barry Murphy, 2 Ger O'Brien , 3 Robbie Clarke, 4 Aidan Price, 5 Ian Ryan,
6 Paul Shields, 7 Jamie Duffy, 8 Vinny Perth, 9 Tadhg Purcell, 10 Gerard Rowe,
11 Dave Cassidy.

Substitutes : 13 Anto Flood for Cassidy 66', 14 Andy Myler for Rowe 51',
15 Mark O'Brien for Duffy 79', 16 Ray Kenny, 17 John McGuinness.

Match Report

On a perfectly calm evening in Tolka Park the Hoops dominated for long periods but Kilkenny will also look back on some missed opportunities especially in the second half. A couple of early Duffy corners and free-kicks set the tone for the game but it took 15 minutes before the first real chance when Tadhg Purcell lobbed the visiting 'keeper from outside the box but the ball went narrowly wide. A miss-kick from a Kilkenny defender was pounced on by Purcell a few minutes later but unfortunately his header went just wide.

Rovers had to work hard to create chances and a nice exchange of passes between Rowe and Purcell on 27 minutes forced the Kilkenny 'keeper into a decent save. Vinny Perth then made a good blocking tackle at the edge of the area before Shields went close at the other end when he met Cassidys cross. Another chance went a begging on 32 minutes when Purcell took Duffys pass and beat two defenders in the box before scooping his shot wide.

A period of pressure just before the break had the Kilkenny defence on the back foot and the last chance of the 'half saw Purcell put Duffy through at an angle but he sliced his shot wide. Andy Myler was introduced early in the second half as the rain began to fall but Rovers struggled to create any openings as Kilkenny grew in confidence. The Hoops then had an amazing escape in the 63rd minute when a breakaway attack ended with a low cross that beat Barry Murphy and fell to a Kilkenny forward but he failed to hit the target from six yards out and Price was able to make the clearance.

Anto Flood was introduced as a third forward and it immediately paid dividends. Within a minute he pounced on some hesitancy in the Kilkenny defence and turned a defender to smash a shot to the back of the net. It was the shot in the arm that Rovers needed and just five minutes later Jamie Duffy ran on to a throw-in and fired a shot across goal that the 'keeper pushed away only for Purcell to follow up and score the second.

The tension in Tolka Park had eased and Flood set up Ger O'Brien in the box but the'keeper pushed away his shot. The visitors almost got one back in the 89th minute when Murphy failed to hold a shot on the now greasy surface but Aiden Price got back to nick the ball away from a Kilkenny forward who was about to score. Straight away Flood took advantage of another error in the Kilkenny defence to run clear but the 'keeper tipped away his curling shot.