Athlone Town 1
Sheridan 38'
Shamrock Rovers 2
Rowe 84' Clarke 89'

FAI Cup Quarter-Final - Dubarry Park - Saturday 30th September 2006 ko 7.30pm

Rovers Line-Out

1 Barry Murphy, 2 Ger O'Brien, 3 Robbie Clarke, 4 Aidan Price, 5 Ray Kenny ,
6 Vinny Perth , 7 Jamie Duffy, 15 Dave Cassidy , 9 Padraig Amond, 10 Gerard Rowe,
11 Dave O'Connor.

Substitutes : 13 Ian Ryan, 14 , 16 Eric McGill for O'Connor 48', 17 , 20 John McGuinness.

Match Report

On a wet and miserable night in the midlands it was easy to see why the "town" had moved this game to the fine Dubarry Park ground and both sets of fans along with the live TV presence of TG4 made for a great FAI Cup occasion. However few in the ground could have predicted the dramatic finale to this game. The game started well with Rowe playing a one-two with Amond only to see his shot blocked in the first minute and then Barry Murphy made a fine save just a minute later tipping over a shot from inside the box. The game settled a little but Price thought he had sent Amond through on 12 minutes but the home 'keeper was quick off his line.

Amond linked well with Duffy in the 14th minute but the low cross into the box was cleared and almost immediately some hesitancy in the Hoops defence needed Murphy to come off his line to block an Athlone effort. A Levine shot hit the side-net on 20 minutes before a dangerous cross from Duffy at the other end was cleared. The Hoops were playing all the football at this stage and O'Connor broke forward in the 23rd minute to cross deep but Duffy mis-hit his first effort and his eventual cross was cleared. Rovers almost made the breakthrough just two minutes later when good build up play saw Rowe strike a shot off the cross-bar.

A Duffy corner was met by Price on the half hour but his header was straight at the 'keeper. The Hoops should have taken the lead in the 31st minute when Rowe battled his way through the home defence and Perth took the ball into the box but his shot went across goal. The Hoops paid for the missed opportunities when a free-kick for Athlone was sent towards the back post and Sheridan was left unmarked to head home from close range. The home side were on top now and a corner just two minutes later saw Murphy make a fine save from a shot inside the box.

The second half started well for the Hoops when a Clarke free-kick was punched clear just as Kenny threatened and Rovers should have equalised in the 50th minute when Rowe set-up Duffy in acres of space in the box but the 'keeper parried his effort and Cassidy fired the rebound over the bar from close range. The Hoops lost their way a little after this and Duffy had to clear off his line from a Levine header in the 59th minute. Clarke was on hand to clear in the 65th minute when Price was turned at the edge of the area.

A scramble at the edge of the Athlone area from an O'Brien free-kick in the 67th minute saw Duffys effort blocked and six minutes later Cassidys free-kick was off-target. The Hoops had become more direct and this played into the hands of the Athlone defence. A free-kick awarded against Price at the edge of the area in the 78th minute saw Murphy make another fine save.

The game had reached the 83rd minute and with Rovers running out of ideas the Athlone number seven ran at the defence and fired a shot past Murphy but fortunately for Rovers the ball struck the inside of the post and rolled across goal to safety. The Hoops had got out of jail and when Clarkes free-kick was cleared just a minute later it fell to sub McGill to play the ball back into the box only for a deflection to fall into the path of Rowe and he was coolness personified as he placed his header over the advancing 'keeper and into the net. The pressure released, Rovers started playing the ball around and some good play from Amond and Rowe saw Clarke curl a right foot shot past the 'keeper from the edge of the area with just a minute remaining. The shell-shocked home side tried hard to claw their way back into the game in the 4 minutes of added on time but the Hoops held firm to dramatically take their place in the semi-finals of the Carlsberg FAI Cup.