Rovers 2 Longford Town 0

******* Eircom League Premier Division *******
Shamrock Rovers 2
Kelleher 34' 53'
Longford Town 0

Tolka Park - Friday 16th March 2007

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Spring maybe was in the air but tonight in Tolka there was a wintery feel as a cold wind with a persistent drizzle made playing conditions difficult. The Hoops started brightly with O'Connor skipping past the right full on six minutes but his cross was behind the attackers. Three minutes later a Ferguson clearance fell nicely for home debutant Kelleher and he bore down on goal but Kelly parried away his effort.

The "Town" got stuck into the physical battle and caused problems for the Hoops defence in the 21st minute when Mooney was well placed to shoot but some good defending and a fortunate rebound saw the ball cleared. Clarke then sent O'Connor away down the left but his cross was headed away. Mooney again caused problems for Rovers when his low cross in the 23rd minute needed a timely intervention from Duffy to stop Rutherford scoring.

Rovers began to exert their own pressure with Danny O'Connor crossing dangerously in the box and namesake Dave not connecting properly with the clearance on 27 minutes. Four minutes later Ferguson failed to guide his header on target from a corner. The deadlock was broken in the 34th minute when Price found Duffy in midfield and his low ball into the area was left by Myler for Kelleher to nip in and slot the ball under Kelly to score. Dave O'Connor and Clarke then combined to set up Cassidy but his shot was off target.

The visitors applied the early pressure at the beginning of the second 'half and the Hoops defence had to be alert to the danger. However just seven minutes into the second period Myler flicked the ball into Kellehers path and from outside the right angle of the box the Limerick man volleyed an unstoppable shot past Kelly. Immediately after the goal Dave O'Connor and Kelleher again had shots blocked in the area.

The game became scrappy with a couple of stoppages for injuries but Longford tried to get back into the game and a dangerous corner was cleared by the Hoops defence in the 65th minute. However Rovers were breaking well and some good work from Dave O'Connor in the 73rd minute set up Kelleher but this time he dragged his shot wide. A minute later the Hoops defence had a huge let-off when a Cassidy miss-kick put the Towns number seven in on goal but he incredibly shot wide from close range.

Thats as good as it got for the visitors as Rovers dominated the remainder of the game and Longford were reduced to just nine men with Martin sent off in the 78th minute followed by Brennan in the 90th. Rovers last chance came in the 86th minute when Cassidy found Kelleher in the box on the right hand side but this time he elected to cross for Purcell but a defender got back to intercept. Robbie Kellehers two goals were a fine reward for his overall hard work throughout the game.

Line-Out

1 Barry Murphy
2 Derek Pender
3 Robbie Clarke
4 Aidan Price
5 Barry Ferguson
6 Danny O'Connor 7 Jamie Duffy
8 Dave Cassidy
9 Andy Myler
10 Robbie Kelleher
11 Dave O'Connor


Substitutes :

13 Tommy Barrett for Danny O'Connor 78'
14 Ian Ryan
17 Wayne Colbert for Kelleher 89'
18 Tadhg Purcell for Myler 69'