SOCCER: Shamrock Rovers 0 Tottenham 4:SO, ALMOST despite themselves, Tottenham safely departed the Europa League at Tallaght Stadium last night but neither their close brush with qualification nor the end of the Michael O'Neill era at Shamrock Rovers could inject a real sense of occasion into the Irish club's final game of what has been a very long campaign.

The home support sent the Northerner on his way at the end with warmth but no great sense of regret, it seemed, although clearly their spirits had been dampened by another European defeat, their worst of what had been a difficult and slightly disappointing group campaign.

The scene in the Tottenham dressingroom at the break must have been an interesting one for whatever Harry Redknapp had really been hoping for before the game, by half-time his side were 3-0 up, PAOK were winning against 10 men and so Spurs were on the verge of overhauling Rubin Kazan in the Group A table and taking the second spot in the next phase of the competition. All’s well that ends well, though, eh Harry?

The Tottenham boss had suggested on Wednesday one downside of going out would be the need to loan out most of this team as the Europa League had been providing them with competitive football at a time when they have little chance of getting it in the Premier League. The quality of some of the football his fringe players produced last night suggested he won’t be short of takers.

Rovers, however, didn’t give them the toughest of evenings. For a spell early on they threatened to make a serious match of it, pressing their opponents in every area and making it difficult for the visitors to pass their way into the final third.

And after the break, albeit it with Tottenham coasting, they repeatedly threatened on the break, with Karl Sheppard, impressive throughout, denied at least one, quite possibly two and, at a stretch, three penalty decisions by the Swiss referee, who might also have sent at least one of the visitors off along the way.

Alas, things went rather less well for the hosts through the closing stages of the first half. Dan Murray had spoken before the game about the team’s tendency to nap for five or 10 minutes, resulting in score-lines in this campaign that sold Rovers’ performances a little short. This time out the slumber lasted a little longer and almost as soon as Steven Pienaar grabbed a goal from next to nothing with a turn and deflected shot from the edge of the area just shortly after half an hour their resistance suddenly started to show real signs of crumbling.

Had the finishing been a bit more clinical the game would have been over as a contest within a matter of a few minutes but a handful of chances were passed up and it took just a little longer. There was much to admire, in the end, about the way Jake Livermore took his chance seven minutes before the break, with the winger curling the ball into the top right corner after Pat Sullivan had rashly tried to play his way out of a distinctly unpromising position.

Jermain Defoe then made it three after Andros Townsend had skipped past Ken Oman and crossed well for the England international, who took the ball with his back to goal, swivelled around Enda Stevens and then nudged the ball into the bottom right corner.

There could easily have been a few more in the second half although thankfully it included serious chances at the other end too, with Sheppard a serious threat on the break before limping off injured and Sullivan forcing Carlo Cudicini’s only real save of the night with a decent long-range effort in the closing stages.

Richard Brush made a couple of solid stops but Iago Falque had him well beaten moments after coming on with a long-range drive that pounded the foot of the right post. With full-time approaching another substitute, 18 year-old Harry Kane, got his side’s fourth. Again poor defending was a factor although so too was a refereeing error with a Pienaar handball early in the build-up passed over.

The crowd renewed their verbal assault on the Swiss but in reality their players had been outclassed again and having ensured the group stages of a European competition are no longer uncharted waters for Irish clubs, Rovers, one suspects, will have a rather less romantic notion of what they are aiming for next time around.

SHAMROCK ROVERS:Brush, Sullivan, Oman, Murray, Stevens, Rice (O'Donnell 46), Turner, Dennehy, Finn (Twigg 57), Paterson, Sheppard (Kilduff 74). Subs not used: Thompson, McCabe, O'Neill, Ricketts. Booked: Murray.

TOTTENHAM: Cudicini, Assou-Ekotto (Falque 84), Kaboul, Livermore, Rose, Townsend, Kranjcar, Sandro, Pienaar, Giovani, Defoe (Kane 76). Subs not used: Gomes, Carroll. Booked: Kranjcar, Pienaar.

Referee: Stephan Studer (Switzerland).