Galway up next for Rovers

SHAMROCK Rovers were held to a 1-1 draw on Monday night against Derry City in Tallaght Stadium, they will be back in action at the venue this weekend as they take on Galway United this Friday night.

It was a game of two halves for Rovers against Derry, the first half was a poor performance for the home side.

Signs of their poor first half were evident early on when an intercepted pass from the usually reliable Sobowale was picked up by Adam O’Reilly with the resulting shot cannoning off the underside of the crossbar bouncing out of harm’s way giving Rovers a lucky escape.

Despite Rovers having a number of half chances in the opening 15 minutes including Michael Noonan being denied from close range it would be Derry who struck first with Liam Boyce heading home in the 25th minute.

The Derry attacker was left totally unmarked in the box in an uncharacteristically sloppy piece of defending from Rovers with James McClean successfully able to pick him out with a cross.

Both sides would have their chances across the remainder of the match with Michael Noonan again coming close for Rovers and Liam Boyce and Michael Duffy threatening for Derry.

Ultimately it took a composed, mature finish from Kilnamanagh man Aaron Greene to break the Derry defence with the striker ushering the ball across the goal into the far right corner in the 83rd minute to make it 1-1.

Rovers came closer of the two teams to getting another after the equaliser but were unable to grab a winner before the referee blew the final whistle with the score ending at 1-1.

The result means Rovers go into the game against Galway this week still top of the table on 44 points, they lead Pats by six who currently sit in second.

It is worth noting however that Rovers have two games extra played than the Saints and should Pats win those two extra games they would be tied up on points.

They play a Galway side who are having a relatively mediocre season, currently in 7th position, John Caulfield’s men are lacking their usual defensive discipline so far this campaign, though they have picked up decent results against Dundalk, Derry, Pat’s and Shelbourne so far this season.

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