Rovers face replay after another slip-up

FAI CUP SEMI-FINAL Shamrock Rovers 2 St Patrick's Ath 2:AS INTENT as ever on making life interesting these days, Shamrock Rovers threw away what should have been a match-winning lead in the closing minutes of an exciting semi-final of the Ford-sponsored FAI Cup semi-final in Tallaght yesterday.

Supporters of the club with an enduringly upbeat outlook might take some consolation that their side didn’t go the whole hog and snatch defeat from the jaws of victory again but it’s still hard to imagine anyone in green and white heading for Inchicore tomorrow night with any great confidence about making it through to face Sligo Rovers in the final.

It was a remarkable finish to a game that got a good deal better as it went on; not least because while Rovers led thanks to a Gary Twigg header for most of the second half, recent form suggested they might fail to press the advantage home.

Sure enough, they fell short in some style again.

To their credit, the visitors chased the game with gusto late on but they never quite did enough to make an equaliser seem inevitable. Rovers goalkeeper Alan Mannus did have to produce a remarkable save to prevent David McAllister heading home 13 minutes from time but Gary Rogers had to do much the same at the other end when Billy Dennehy looked set to make the game safe for the hosts.

Then, with seconds of the 90 minutes left, Brian Cash floated in a corner from the right and before Stuart Byrne could have a crack at turning the ball goalwards, Paddy Kavanagh beat him to it with the Rovers midfielder turning the ball past his own goalkeeper from 10 yards or so. “Obviously he was trying to head it away,” said a slightly exasperated Rovers manager Michael O’Neill when asked what his player had been thinking, “but he’s headed it into the net. He wasn’t trying to score an own goal.”

Despite the setback, O’Neill maintained his side had deserved to win having been the better of the two but defeat would have been pretty harsh on a St Patrick’s side who held their own rather well after a poor opening spell.

“To come here, go behind twice but come back both times . . . I think that says a lot about us these days,” said Pete Mahon. “We may not be great sometimes but we’ve got a bit of bottle and class and we don’t give up.” That much at least, was beyond dispute by the end.

Whether his side can capitalise on the taking the tie back to Inchicore remains to be seen, though, and Mahon freely admitted that having won there twice already this season, Rovers are unlikely to be especially intimidated by the venue. Still, O’Neill’s men will have to regroup after another late slip-up and that might put a different complexion on tomorrow night’s game.

Hard as it was on their fans yesterday, the latest loss of a lead certainly made for a thrilling finale. Not much of what went on through the opening stages had been quite so enthralling, however, with Rovers edging what had threatened to be a disappointingly scrappy encounter.

There were few clear-cut chances through the opening stages and Rovers looked most dangerous when handed the opportunity to float the ball into the area from set-pieces. After a couple of dry runs they opened the scoring when Dennehy picked out Chris Turner just beyond the penalty spot from where the midfielder sent a looping header almost unchallenged over Rogers who got caught in no-man’s land.

On the sidelines, Mahon was furious, angrily insisting to the fourth official that Derek Doyle had been pushed as he committed the handball that the referee’s assistant had flagged. The manager’s agitation, though, would have been compounded a few minutes later when more slack defending on his side’s part almost allowed Twigg to double the Rovers lead after good work by Chambers and Tommy Stewart.

Chambers was gone not long after, limping out of the game with an ankle injury (he is likely to miss the replay) to be replaced by Kavanagh and around the same time St Patrick’s started to show signs of an appetite for the battle.

Second to almost everything until then, Mahon’s men began to challenge their opponents with a little more urgency and make use of the possession and thus their frontmen started to feature more. Danny North set up the first equaliser for McAllister after capitalising on a slip by Enda Stevens and Ryan Guy, both of whom did well from that point on while McAllister himself was outstanding.

They will all, most likely, have to be as good again if Rovers do perform tomorrow night but Mahon had suggested before the game he reckons sometimes the cup simply has some side’s name on it and nothing he witnessed in Tallaght can have done much to dent the notion this year it just might be

SHAMROCK ROVERS: Mannus; Rice, Flynn, Price, Stevens; Chambers (Kavanagh, 25 mins), Bradley, Turner, Dennehy; Twigg (Bayly, 83 mins), Stewart (Baker, 62 mins).

ST PATRICK'S ATHLETIC: Rogers; Pender, Kenna, Haverty (Stewart, 80 mins), Bermingham; McAllister, Mulcahy, S Byrne, Doyle (Cash, 69 mins); Guy, North (Faherty, 90+3).

Referee: T Connolly(Dublin).