Conference League: Shamrock Rovers 3 (Kenny 12 & 64, Farrugia 56) Borac Banja Luka 0
The outstanding Johnny Kenny bagged a brace of goals at Tallaght Stadium last night as Shamrock Rovers bolstered their chances of achieving automatic qualification into the Uefa Conference League round of 16 with a magnificent win over Borac Banja Luka.
Currently in his second loan spell at Rovers from Scottish Premiership giants Celtic, Kenny found the net either side of Neil Farrugia’s 56th-minute goal to move the Hoops all the way up to sixth in the competition’s standings. With the top eight teams progressing straight into the last 16 at the end of the league phase, Stephen Bradley’s men will go into next Thursday’s final round encounter with Chelsea at Stamford Bridge knowing this remains a realistic target.
Even if they fall short of achieving this goal, Rovers will at the very least be seeded in the two-legged Conference League knock-out phase play-offs set to take place in February.
Rovers boss Bradley opted for the same starting 11 that earned a 1-1 away draw against Rapid Vienna a fortnight ago.
However, there was a strong look to the home team’s bench as Danny Mandroiu, Graham Burke and Aaron Greene all shook off injury issues to join Jack Byrne among the reserves.
The Hoops had come under some early pressure against Rapid Vienna and it was a similar case at Tallaght Stadium. With a little over 60 seconds on the clock, Rovers goalkeeper Leon Pohls was called into action to turn away a low effort by opposition winger Stefan Savic. But the hosts quickly settled and subsequently got the Hoops faithful off their feet with a magnificent breakthrough goal.
Courtesy of goals in successive games against Larne, The New Saints and Rapid, Kenny came into this showdown as one of the Conference League’s most prolific strikers. His equaliser away to Vienna arrived via an enticing delivery from Josh Honohan, but the Cork native couldn’t quite pick out the Hoops centre-forward after he raided down the left-wing on 12 minutes.
But his fellow wing back Darragh Burns was ideally positioned to keep this particular attack alive and his delicate cross was met by the head of Kenny for his sixth European goal of the campaign.
There was a slight worry for Rovers either side of the half-hour mark as both Honohan and Dylan Watts picked up yellow cards, while Borac defender Sebastian Herrera also found himself in the notebook of Austrian referee Stefan Ebner.
It was anticipated that Borac would step up their performance after the restart, and midfielder Dino Skorup lashed over in the opening minute after a wayward pass from Rovers defender Lee Grace landed at his feet.
Borac applied further attacking pressure as the action progressed, but it was the Hoops who ultimately had more of a cutting edge in the final third. Eager to show the creative side to his game, Kenny raced past a retreating Borac defence on 56 minutes before playing the ball across the goal for Farrugia to deliver a simple finish into an empty net.
This left Rovers on the brink of a third victory in the league phase and any notion that Borac might forge a dramatic comeback were effectively dismissed in the 64th minute.
Racing on to a precise through ball from Estonian midfielder Markus Poom, Kenny chipped the advancing Filip Manojlovic for his second goal of another memorable European night for the Hoops.
SHAMROCK ROVERS: Pohls; Cleary, Lopes, Grace; Burns, O’Neill, Poom (Noonan, 77 mins), Honohan (Clarke, 66); Watts (Byrne, 66), Farrugia (Mandroiu, 77); Kenny (Greene, 66).
BORAC BANJA LUKA: Manojlovic; Vukcevic (Hrelja, 70 mins), Meijers, Carolina, Herrera; Grahovac, Skorup (Skreckovic, 70); Kulasin, Ogrinec, Savic (Vranjes, 81); Despotovic.
Referee: S Ebner (Austria).
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