Shamrock Rvrs 1 St Patricks A 0:PETE MAHON seemed a little taken aback by the intensity of the post-match exchanges into which he was plunged at the final whistle yesterday in Tallaght. But it was the failure of his players to get to grips with the way Shamrock Rovers put it up to them on the pitch that was of rather more significance to this year's title race.
Gary Twigg’s second-half goal may have been all that separated the sides at the end but for most of the 90 minutes the gulf seemed a little wider.
The St Patrick’s hunger to retain top spot never quite looked the equal of Rovers’ appetite for regaining it, a week after they had lost it for the first time this year by losing to Sligo Rovers.
Michael O’Neill, with whom Mahon said he had a “very nice little chat” afterwards, has faced suggestions in recent days that the departure of Trevor Croly has left him without an important link to his players. But they certainly looked keen to play for their manager here, working diligently in possession and with more determination than their opponents when forced to chase the ball.
Having apparently antagonised his former coach with his team talk and selection at the Showgrounds last week, the northerner did shake things up fairly significantly this time out with Twigg and Ronan Finn restored to the starting line-up and pushed forward slightly thanks to a switch to 4-4-2. Both men came close to justifying the changes by half-time with decent efforts on goal.
Rovers didn’t exactly have a monopoly on the game’s chances during that open period, but they did have the bulk of its better ones. Overall they did enough to give the firm impression at the break that it was they, rather than their visitors who would press on and win the game.
Their opponents had arrived hoping to maintain an unbeaten run in the league that stretched back to early April but after the midweek trek to Iceland where they also lost 1-0 they looked tired here, especially in midfield where they were dominated, increasingly so in the second half.
Stephen Bradley and Anto Murphy should have been key men, not least from set-pieces, if Mahon’s men were really going to prosper but neither managed to make much of an impression on things prior to being replaced after the break with the manager acknowledging afterwards they hadn’t been 100 per cent fit.
In contrast, Finn thrived as he directed operations from the centre of Rovers midfield, the team’s wide men posed an ever-increasing threat as the game went on.
Ciáran Kilduff did his bit to support the team’s leading marksman, not least for the goal, a wonderfully-executed team effort involving seven players and perhaps a dozen passes before a neat exchange between the front two allowed the Scot to poke home his 10th league goal in 15 games from around 10 metres out.
The visitors promptly set about the pursuit of an equaliser but never really got going. Their strikers looked lively but lacked support and Alan Mannus and his defence coped rather easily while the home side’s strikers, Mahon admitted readily enough “could have picked us off towards the end”.
The champions really should have had another goal alright with Finn and particularly Billy Dennehy passing up chances late on. But, after the week they’ve had, there were never going to be any complaints about the scale of a victory from the home camp afterwards.
“There’s been a bit of hysteria,” said O’Neill – who was sent to the stand in the 56th minute for getting a little overwrought himself – in relation to the media reaction to the Sligo defeat and Croly’s departure, “but the players are happy and they have reacted well. There’s a long way to go, though, there are a few teams capable of posing a threat to us in the title race and the top seven are all capable of taking points from each other so we’ll just carry on.”
SHAMROCK ROVERS: Mannus; Sullivan, Sives, Oman, Stevens; McCabe (Kavanagh, 86 mins), Finn, Rice, Dennehy; Twigg (McCormack, 80 mins), Kilduff (Kelly, 70 mins).
ST PATRICK’S ATHLETIC: Rogers; Pender, E McMillan, Shortall, Bermingham; Murphy (D McMillan, 74 mins), Bradley (McFaul, 59 mins), Mulcahy (Daly, 80 mins), Doyle; North, Kavanagh.
Referee: D McKeon (Dublin).
