Brave show from Rovers in Europe

Shamrock Rovers hosted Shakhtar Donetsk yesterday evening in front of a crowd of 9226 as the two teams competed in the UEFA Conference League.

The first half started off somewhat slowly with neither team looking particularly dominant throughout the first 15 minutes of the game.

Rovers had some promising moves through this period with Rory Gaffney cutting in from the left looking particularly threatening. They managed to get the ball into good positions and had the Shakhtar keeper having to come and get more involved in the game than he would have liked.

Shakhtar failed to produce any real chance during this time however to their credit they did look promising when going forward showing real pace in the team, potential to do serious damage.

That potential would be realised in the 19th minute of the game and it would be Ed McGinty making an excellent save to keep the score at 0-0.

This wouldn’t stay the case for long however and Shakhtar would eventually put the ball in the back of the net just minutes later.

Kaua Elias being the goalscorer with Shakhtar getting what they deserved after a dominant five minute spell which saw McGinty called into action as well as an off the line clearance from the Rovers defence.

While rovers were noticeably on the backfoot leading up to the half hour mark impressively they did not falter and worked their way slowly but surely back into the game after going down.

John McGovern’s header wide was their first real chance of the game in the 35th minute and the forward came even closer moments later with  his shot making its way past the keeper before being cleared from the Shakhtar goalline by the defence.

The second half saw the game continue to ebb and flow. Rovers appealed for a penalty in the 50th minute but the pleas fell on deaf ears and the referee actually presented Stephen Bradley with a yellow card.

Rovers drew a save shortly after from the Shakhtar keeper with Matt Healys effort from outside of the box seemingly headed for the back of the net.

The other keeper in the game would then be called into action with Ed McGinty making a simply superb save from a header destined for the bottom corner.

The last 15 minutes of the second half would be where the action truly began however.

Shakhtar would grab their second goal of the game in the 76th minute with a deflected freekick finding its way past McGinty. They would apparently extend the lead moments later from a scrappy goal via a corner kick before after extensive analysis the goal was ruled offside.

Rovers then managed to get a goal of their own in the 86th minute with Conor Malley producing a lovely dink for the finish.

Revitalised after being offered a lifeline they pushed for the equaliser but were unable to get it over the line with the game ending 2-1 to the visitors.