|
Hoops Line out
1 Oscar Jansson
2 Kerrea Gilbert
4 Craig Sives 
5 Ken Oman (C)
3 Conor Powell
22 Stephen Rice
20 Billy Dennehy
7 Gary McCabe
9 Gary Twigg
10 Gary O'Neill
15 Killian Brennan
Substitutes
16 Daryl Kavanagh
for Dennehy 59'
17 Graham Gartland
for Oman 61'
14 Aaron Greene
for O'Neill 75'
23 Colin Hawkins
8 Stephen O'Donnell
22 Colm McCormack
30 Reyaad Pieterse
|
Aaron Greene
A frustrating night for the Hoops as they really only caused problems for Monaghan in the final third of the game with both Killian Brennan and Aaron Greene hitting the post. The home side offered little going forward but Alan Byrne in defence had a good game.
On a fine calm evening the game started at a slow pace and the home side were content to stay in their own half and allow the Rovers centre-backs to regain possession. However Rovers found it difficult to get Dennehy and McCabe into good positions and too many times the long diagonal ball to the wings didn't work.
Gary McCabe did gradually get into the game and his fine cross on 14 minutes saw Twigg and Dennehy attack the ball but to no avail. McCabe and O'Neill combined on 21 minutes to cross but Twigg couldn't get direction on his shot. Flynn did get a shot on goal for Monaghan but Jansson easily saved after 25 minutes.
McCabe went on a good run across the box on 27 minutes but there were too many defenders to get a shot in. O'Neill shot across goal on 33 minutes following Twiggs header but Bennion easily saved. O'Neill was unlucky not to get a shot on goal after 37 munutes following another Twigg lay-off but he was crowded out by defenders. Just before the break Gilbert found himself in space on the right-hand side of the box but his cross went over Twigg at the near post.
The second-half started in the same vein and it took the introduction of Daryl Kavanagh just before the hour mark to shake things up for Rovers. On 62 minutes a Brennan corner fell to Kavanagh on the right of the box and his powerful low drive forced Bennion into his first real save. The resultant corner was met by the head of Kavanagh and again Bennio made a crucial block.
A Brennan free-kick on the right saw Sives and O'Neill attack the ball at the back post but they couldn't get the vital touch. On 68 minutes Kavanagh was fouled and Brennan stepped up to shoot from 30 yards and saw his fine effort beat Bennion but hit the inside of the right-hand post.
Rovers continued the pressure with Twigg shooting wide and sub Graham Gartland, on for the injured Ken Oman, headeing wide from a corner. On 76 minutes Kavanagh shot weakly at Bennion from a great position in the box following good work from Twigg and Greene. The Hoops thought they had broken the deadlock on 80 minutes when a Brennan free-kick fell to Greene in the box in front of goal but his shot on the turn smashed off the left-hand post.
Monaghan dug in and frustrated Rovers but there was some late drama when with three minutes of normal time remaining a Conor Powell cross saw McCabes shot blocked and Greene crossed the loose ball to Twigg who with his back to goal tried an overhead kick that narrowly missed the target.
In the 90th minute a Rice throw-in fell to Sives in front of goal but somehow a defender blocked his goal bound shot. The four minutes of added-on time saw McCabe shoot wide and Brennan saw his free-kick blocked by the hard working defence.
|
