Shamrock Rovers European adventure comes to an end
A lapse in concentration from Shamrock Rovers has cost them in the second-leg of their Europa Conference League tie with FC Flora Tallinn in Tallaght Stadium tonight, losing 1-0 as they bow out of the competition by Eoin Gardiner.
After a failed attack on goal by the Hoops, Flora’s Rauno Sappinen and Konstantin Vassilijev turned over possession with some quality link-up play as they made their way up the pitch. Vassilijev played the ball to Sappinen before he took a shot on goal from inside the box which found its way under Rovers shot stopper Alan Mannus, making the score 5-2 on aggregate.
Rovers dominated from an early stage, having by far more opportunities all throughout the game, while Flora only came into a rhythm late into the first-half. However, the Hoops failed to take those critical chances.
An early opportunity for the Tallaght side came in the form of a shot from captain Ronan Finn, which worked Flora goalkeeper Matvei Igonen, who was forced to parry the ball out before Graham Burke caught it on the rebound, prompting the keeper to push the ball away again before it was cleared for a corner.
Dylan Watts also proved a challenge for the Flora backline. Coming in from the right, Watts put a cross into the box which, unfortunately for the Hoops, passed everyone in the box including Liam Scales, seemingly the target man as he waited at the back post.
Watts also put a promising ball through to Graham Burke, who placed it into the six-yard box with the intention of setting Danny Mandroiu up for a sure goal, but Mandroiu couldn’t connect with the ball.
Mandroiu had another chance when he shot from some 25 yards out, only for the ball to barely float over the crossbar.
After the Hoops drew a foul just outside the box in the first-half, Watts stepped up confidently, but failed to really challenge the goalkeeper, placing the ball right into his hands.
Rovers substitutes Richie Towell and Rory Gaffney attempted to make an impact for their side after coming on, with both men getting involved in a number of attacks for Rovers, which continued well into the dying minutes of the game.
Having already earned roughly €1.3m from their participation in the tournament, qualification to the group stages tonight would have brought the figure up to almost €3m, a large sum by League of Ireland standards.
The Hoops now look forward to facing Bohemians on Sunday in the second round of the FAI Cup.
