Shamrock Rovers 1 Derry City 2:A LATE Ciarán Martyn strike stunned Shamrock Rovers and gave 10-man Derry City all three points at Tallaght Stadium last night.

The home side’s strike partnership of Gary Twigg and Dessie Baker looked dangerous throughout and they were at the centre of the penalty awarded to Rovers in the 23rd minute.

A neat one two between Twigg and Baker on the edge of the box saw the latter brought down by Peter Hutton and, despite sending Gerard Doherty in goal the wrong way, midfielder Shane Robinson pulled the spot-kick wide.

Derry’s luck seemed to run out in the 43rd minute when defender Clive Delaney was dismissed after receiving a second yellow card.

Rovers came flying out of the traps in the second half and they quickly capitalised on their man advantage by grabbing the lead. Baker stepped over a low cross from the left, before turning to latch on to Twigg’s touch and fire into the bottom corner.

Rovers looked certain to score their second and clinch the three points with 15 minutes remaining when a neat passing move between Baker and Robinson put the latter clear on goal, however he squared the ball and substitute Seán O’Connor fired over.

The winger was obviously still dwelling on his missed chance 60 seconds later as he allowed Thomas Stewart to drift in at the back post from Sammy Morrow’s cross and head Derry back on level terms from their first real chance of the game.

Despite the home side pushing to regain the lead, Derry stunned them with six minutes remaining when midfielder Martyn ran on to a Barry Molloy cut back and fired his shot into the bottom corner from the edge of the box.

SHAMROCK ROVERS: Murphy, Madden, Bermingham (Purcell, 88 mins), Price, Webb, Rice (O’Connor, 65 mins), Robinson, Twigg, Cahill, Bradley (Cameron, 79 mins), Baker.

DERRY CITY: Doherty, Delaney, Hutton, Gray, Higgins (Molloy, 55 mins), Martyn, Stewart, Kearney (Chrystal, 43 mins), O’Brien, McGlynn, Farron (Morrow, 65 mins).

Referee: D Hancock.