Rovers (0) 2 - Sheppard 61' Kilduff 69'

U.C.D. (0) 2 - Belhout 73' Creevy 80'            
 

FAI Cup 4th Round - Tallaght Stadium - Monday 29th August 2011

Hoops Line out
16 Ryan Thompson
2 Pat Sullivan
3 Jack Memery
4 Craig Sives
13 Pat Flynn (c)
8 Stephen O'Donnell
7 Gary McCabe
10 Karl Sheppard
6 Stephen Rice   
11 Ciaran Kilduff
19 Gary O'Neill

Substitutes
21 Ronan Finn
for McCabe 54'
18 Chris Turner
for O'Neill 67'
5 Dan Murray
for Sheppard 81'
23 Sean Gannon
1 Richard Brush
9 Gary Twigg
20 Billy Dennehy

Karl Sheppard's excellent strike just after the hour was followed by a headed Kilduff goal but UCD struck twice either side of Pat Flynn's dismissal for a professional foul to bring the tie back to Belfield.

Rovers almost took the lead after just three minutes when O’Donnell’s quick free-kick saw Kilduff head over the advancing ’keeper but O’Connor got back to head off the line.

On 8 minutes Gary McCabe slipped the ball through for Sheppard but the Hoops number 10 shot narrowly wide. The Students almost took the lead in the tenth minute when Meenan’s low cross was met in front of goal by Benson but he struck his shot wide.

Jack Memery sent in a terrific cross on 13 minutes after a good move but the ball was just too deep for Kilduff at the back post. Rovers were playing some good football but at times over elaborated in and around the Students box.

A lovely move on 21 minutes saw McCabe and Kilduff combine but the ex-Students shot was weak and Barron saved comfortably. Pat Sullivan and Gary McCabe made two decent defensive interventions on 25 minutes.

After 32 minutes a good McCabe cross just evaded a stretching Kilduff at the back post and three minutes later Stephen O’Donnell did well to race into the area but his cross saw Sheppard’s shot blocked.

The game petered out until the break with only a good cross from Pat Sullivan and a good defensive header from Memery in the final five minutes of the half.

Rovers started the second-half well but Harding went close with a shot for the visitors. On 51 minutes an O’Donnell corner was met at the back post by Kilduff but the ball went narrowly wide.

Keeper Barron then “shovelled away” Gary McCabe’s snap shot from the edge of the area and Kilduff’s sliding tackle on 56 minutes sent Sullivan racing into the box but he shot across goal.

Gary O’Neill then set up substitute Ronan Finn to shoot on goal but Barron beat away his shot as the Hoops continued to dominate. On the hour Pat Sullivan sent Kilduff into the box but the Hoops striker stretched to shoot over Barron from close-range.

Rovers took the lead a minute later in a move that saw Memery combine with O’Neill to set up O’Donnell to find Sheppard on the left hand side of the box and he duly fired the ball past Barron into the top of the net.  

Jack Memery made a fine defensive header on 63 minutes before Karl Sheppard forced Barron to tip his cross over the bar. Rover went two-up on 69 minutes when Sullivan’s fine cross was met by Kilduff and he headed past Barron.

The introduction of Samir Belhout paid dividends for the Students as he raced onto Meenan’s pass to shoot first time past Thompson from the left-hand side of the area to reduce the deficit on 73 minutes.

Rovers had a couple of half-chances before a long clearance caught Sives out and Pat Flynn blocked Belhout’s progress from 5 yards inside his own half but Referee Connolly saw that as a professional foul and duly brandished a straight Red card.

Right from the free-kick the visitors equalised with Meenan exploiting the space on the UCD left to send in a cross that Creevy headed past Thompson into the corner of the net.

Despite the numerical disadvantage the Hoops carved out the best chance to win the game when Kilduff held the ball up front and set up Finn on the edge of the area to shoot on goal but the ball just went over the cross-bar.

Barron palmed away O’Donnell’s corner on 88 minutes and Stephen Rice’s follow-up shot as blocked in front of goal. The last action of the game saw Harding make a fine defensive header to block Sullivan’s cross into the box.

The sides will meet again in Belfield next Monday 5th September.