Rovers all set for crunch test with Bohs in Tallaght

All eyes will be on Tallaght Stadium this coming Friday as Shamrock Rovers have the opportunity to win the league, reports Michael Howley.

They play arch rivals Bohemians Friday evening and a win for Rovers alongside Derry losing to Drogheda would ensure that they cannot be caught in the league table.

With over 8,000 tickets sold already this is shaping up to be a sell out game.

Interestingly Rovers have lost every match up against Bohemians so far in the league with the club inflicting three of Rover’s four league defeats this year.  None of that will matter if Rovers can beat them to win their 22nd league on Friday.

There wouldn’t be any better way in the eyes of Rovers fans to secure a league title with a win over their Northside rivals.

Shamrock Rovers rebounded well on Monday evening beating Waterford decisively via a 2-1 scoreline following a frustrating draw against Cork City last Friday.

The match against Cork finished 1-1 thanks to a very late equaliser with Darragh Crowley equalising for the Rebels in injury time after Danny Grant had put Rovers ahead at the 70th minute for the game. Rovers manager Stephen Bradley spoke about the performance of his side and the frustration felt in the aftermath of that game.

Matt Healy celebrates his goal
Photos by Darren Kearns

“Yes, I think that’s fair to say. I think we all were because it’s a really basic goal to give away from our point of view.

‘That’s the frustrating bit, sometimes you concede goals and that’s football, but not in the manner or type we did.

‘So that’s the frustration and that’s where that came from.

‘You’ll draw games and lose games, but it was the manner of the goal we gave away.

‘Darragh Crowley hits it well, but there are so many areas where we should stop it, which was really frustrating.

‘It’s very unlike us, but it again shows, if you switch off for a moment, you get punished and we did.”

Headed to the RSC, Rovers were looking to correct their course back to winning ways and that they certainly did.

While Waterford looked mildly threatening for the first 20 minutes or so of the game, they never truly troubled the Tallaght outfit.

It would not take too long for the deadlock to be broken with Josh Honohan getting on the end of a move that began with an Adam Matthews long throw in to bundle the ball into the back of the net.

The game would remain fairly uneventful up until the 70th minute.

Matt Healy received the ball outside of the area and was not closed down effectively by any Waterford opposition.

Afforded all the time in the world, Healy made no mistake in stepping up to the edge of the box and slotting his shot home into the bottom left corner.

The score now 2-0, the game seemed to be decided already with a late Waterford goal from Tommy Lonergan doing nothing to change the overall result.