Galway Utd (1) 2 - Gilmore 34' Browne 47'

Rovers (1) 3 - Finn 16' Sives 51' Kilduff 57'             
 

Airtricity League - Terryland Park - Sunday 21st August 2011

Hoops Line out
16 Ryan Thompson
2 Pat Sullivan
3 Enda Stevens
4 Craig Sives
5 Dan Murray (c)
18 Chris Turner
21 Ronan Finn
22 Karl Moore
10 Karl Sheppard
19 Gary O'Neill
11 Ciaran Kilduff

Substitutes

7 Gary McCabe
for Moore 61'
21 Billy Dennehy
for Kilduff 65'
9 Gary Twigg
for O'Neill 79'
8 Stephen O'Donnell
6 Stephen Rice
23 Lorcan Shannon
1 Richard Brush

Galway United's battling display belittled their lowly position in the League as Rovers needed to dig deep to secure the vital three points. In truth the Hoops had enough chances to win three games but were thankful for Ciaran Kilduff's scrambled winning goal.

Rovers had a chance in the first minute when Gary O’Neill saw his goal bound shot headed clear and on three minutes Ronan Finn went close from a tight angle. After 5 minutes Craig Sives met Pat Sullivan’s long throw-in but couldn’t steer the ball on target from close range.

The Hoops continued to dominate and Finn shot over the bar from Sullivan’s cross before Kilduff glanced his header wide from an Enda Stevens cross. Rovers made the breakthrough on 16 minutes when a Sives ball from defence saw Kilduff hold off a defender to set up Ronan Finn to shoot inot the top corner of the net from the edge of the area.

The hoops failed to capitalise on the goal and gradually the home side got into the game and Alan Murphy beat Chris Turner to the ball on the half-hour but saw his shot go over.

On 33 minutes Turner turned provider when he won possession in midfield and played Kilduff in on goal but the Hoops striker shot wide of the goal. Within a minute the Tribesmen levelled the game as substitute Gilmore was first to Craig Sives clearance to shoot low past Thompson.

Rovers had chances to regain the lead before the break but Gary O’Neill saw his close-range effort blocked by the Galway ‘keeper Connor Winn after Chris Turner’s good run and both Turner and Sheppard had half-chances before the whistle.

Rovers were stunned when Galway centre-half Browne met a corner on 47 minutes to head past Thompson and give the Westerners the lead. Rovers hit back and Pat Sullivan’s long throw-in on 51 minutes was powerfully headed into the top corner of the net by Sives.

The large Hoops contingent in the crowd were jubilant just six minutes later when O’Neill found Sheppard in the box and the ex-Galway man headed across goal for Kilduff to bundle the ball over the line.

Gary McCVabe and Billy Dennehy had been waiting on the half-way line to come on but were ushered back to the dugout following the goal. Winn then made a brilliant stop from Chris Turner’s thundering header following Sullivan’s cross.

Gary McCabe was introduced after an hour and on 66 minutes he slipped the ball past the defence for Karl Sheppard but he blasted his shot wide. Pat Sullivan then sent Sheppard in on goal but this time Winn advanced to block his shot.

The game was like a cup tie now with the home side lively in attack but Rovers were creating chances. Gary O’Neill’s good work saw Sheppard draw another fine save from Winn before Dennehy shot into the side-netting.

On 83 minutes a McCabe free-kick saw Sives header hit the cross-bar and Dan Murray’s follow-up went over the bar. With three minutes remaining Enda Stevens raided down the left and his cross found substitute Gary Twigg and his first time shot brought another fine save from Winn.

Dennehy then crossed fro Twigg to head against the cross-bar and Rovers failure to secure the game led to nervous moments in the defence every time the home side got the ball forward.

As the game entered the three minutes of added-on time a Dennehy corner was met by Dan Murray but Winn produced a brilliant point-blank save. The home ‘keeper excelled again in the last minute to push away Pat Sullivans volley from the right-hand side of the box.

The final whistle was greeted with relief and Galway ‘keeper Winn was loudly applauded for his fine display by the travelling fans as the Hoops secured the vital three points.