Rovers' real worries lie off the pitch

It hasn't been raining so much as pouring for Joe Colwell, Damien Richardson and everybody else up at Shamrock Rovers over the past 10 days or so.

The league cup defeat at Bray was bad, their sudden slump in the league worse; but at Santry yesterday the long faces were caused less by their third loss in 10 days than by the growing sense of uncertainty that surrounds their proposed move to Tallaght.

A South Dublin County Council meeting last Monday deferred a vote on whether to hand over previously promised land which the club requires if it is to fulfill its obligation under the terms of its planning permission to provide some 800 car parking spaces.

The next meeting takes place on November 8th, and yesterday club chairman Colwell made it clear that if the future of the Tallaght move isn't resolved at that stage then the continued existence of the Shamrock Rovers will be called into doubt.

"If it goes against us then," said Colwell after yesterday's defeat, "then we'll have to take stock of the whole situation. The fact is, though, that at the moment we can't get a grant from anybody because we don't have our own ground and we can't rely on people's donations. "Over the last couple of years I've put a lot of money in and I'm not prepared to keep doing it. For the club to have a future it has to have a permanent home."

Still, teams with a lot less on their minds would have crumbled against Cuty's strength and admirable determination.

Mark Herrick gave the visitors the lead in the eighth minute with an outstanding strike from just beyond the angle of the area.

In fact, his players did well to come back into the game as the first half progressed. Around the area, however, Graham Lawlor was still finding his bearings at his new club, while Shane Robinson was discovering how tough a little bit of reputation can make it for you around the league's more battle-hardened sides.

Billy Woods, against his former club, was the most creative player for the locals in attack. But after some terrible defending had allowed John Caulfield to double City's lead from a couple of yards out early in the second period, the midfielder squandered a fine opportunity to pull one back, shooting instead of crossing when a disorderly queue of team-mates was forming by the far post.

Brian Byrne and Derek Tracey went close too, the former quite spectacularly. But matters only got worse for Rovers whose eagerness to get back into the contest backfired with 13 minutes remaining.

Robbie Horgan, in for the suspended Tony O'Dowd, took a free kick from the right when perhaps Matt Britton might have been a better choice, and though the goalkeeper got a decent distance on the kick it came back at him rather more quickly than he might have expected.

The initial clearance out of the City defence was headed straight on by Gerald Dobbs (on for Caulfield only moments earlier), and Pat Morley took but a quick glance and a single touch to send the ball sailing over Horgan and into the net as the Rovers player scrambled back across from the right side.

A little belatedly, the Dubliners then recovered some of the sense of purpose they had displayed in the opening period, and during the time that remained they seriously tested the Cork defence.

It still took a penalty for handball, about which Dave Hill could have done little, put away coolly by Woods to get them off the mark.

SHAMROCK ROVERS: Horgan; Britton, Jackson, Palmer, Dunne; Robinson, Purdy, Tracey, Woods; Lawlor, Cousins. Subs: Colwell and Byrne for Purdy and Robinson (53 mins).

CORK CITY: Mooney; Napier, Daly, Hill, Cronin; Herrick, O'Brien, Flanagan, Cahill; Caulfield, Morley. Subs: Dobbs for Caulfield (74 mins), O'Brien for Flanagan (82 mins).

Referee: J Feighery (Dublin).