Rovers - Leinster futsal champions

Shamrock Rovers became the inaugural Emerald Futsal League (Leinster) champions after a thrilling 7-4 final victory over Bray/St Joseph’s on Saturday.

The Hoops clinched the title after holding out against a brave Bray side that battled back from a 4-0 half-time deficit to produce a stunning second half fight-back at the BRL Umbro Arena, Ballymun.

Rovers grabbed control of the game through Brazilian Leonardo Da Sousa early on then extended their lead with a double from Brendan Dawson and a neat finish from Marwan Azimi. Bray showed tremendous character to fight their way back into the tie with a double from Dean Zambra and a Richie Farrell strike making it 4-3 with all the momentum on their side.

Philip McDonagh then produced two clinical strikes to give Rovers some respite and Farrell and Dawson – completing his hat-trick – traded further goals to see out the scoring.

Dawson and McDonagh stole the show in terms of finishing but the goalkeeping of John Somers when Bray were at their peak proved crucial to the Rovers success.

The Emerald Futsal League (Leinster) ran throughout the summer for 14 weeks with Sporting Fingal and Alpha Futsal Club losing out in the semi-finals.

"Winning this trophy means an awful lot to the players and the people within Shamrock Rovers who have supported the futsal section of the club," said manager Stephen Finn. "I'm tremendously proud to be associated with every one of them as players and always felt that we had the potential to win the title if we worked hard enough. "I would love to see futsal grow as a section within the club. Shamrock Rovers won the initial FAI Under-21 National Futsal League in 2007 and I'd like to see us build on this success."

SHAMROCK ROVERS - John Somers; Leonardo Da Sousa, Brendan Dawson, Anderson Nunes, Philip McDonagh, Marwan Azimi, Richard Maher, Vinicius Terso. Injured: Ian Byrne, Alvin Lawlor. Manager: Stephen Finn.