Premier Division: Shamrock Rovers 2 (Gaffney 47, 65) Derry City 0
A brace of goals, the second a terrific strike, from in-form Rory Gaffney heaped frustration on Derry City at Tallaght Stadium as Shamrock Rovers edged closer to a fifth title in six years.
With 10 games now remaining, Stephen Bradley’s side are 10 points clear of second-placed Bohemians and 11 ahead of Derry, who have now not beaten Rovers in 10 games stretching back to March 2023. A record extending 22nd League of Ireland championship is now all but Rovers’ to lose.
The big result was just the tonic Rovers would have wanted as they now travel to Kosovo to meet FC Ballkani in the first leg of their Conference League third round tie this week.
Rovers head coach Bradley rotated his squad once again with five changes from the 0-0 draw with St Joseph’s last Thursday.
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And they enjoyed promising early possession here, troubling the Derry defence twice in quick succession nine minutes in.
First Gaffney did well to set up ex-Derry midfielder Aaron McEneff who should have done better than shoot over the top.
Seconds later, skipper Roberto Lopes’s route-one ball over the top dropped for Gaffney who spun visiting captain Mark Connolly, cut across Alex Bannon to rifle narrowly wide.
Having survived, Derry, who gave a debut to new signing Jamie Stott in defence, responded to cut Rovers open a trifle too easily on 12 minutes. Sadou Diallo’s delightful chip in behind found the clever run of Michael Duffy whose shot beat Ed McGinty with Rovers relieved to see the ball come back off a post.
Duffy then skilfully ghosted between Rovers’ experienced defenders Lopes and Dan Clary on 28 minutes to shoot wide across goal.
And there was another scare for Rovers five minutes before the interval. Duffy again was involved, feeding impressive wingback Brandon Fleming who nipped past Lopes to get his shot away which required a frantic clearance a yard from goal by Lee Grace.
Second best in the first half, Rovers came out with added impetus for the restart and were ahead inside two minutes.
Danny Mandroiu flicked on Grace’s ball down the left for Josh Honohan who skipped away to cross and give Gaffney a simple tap-in.
In their groove now, Rovers were close to doubling their lead in the following minutes. Having come in for his debut at half-time, new loan signing Connor Malley shaved the crossbar. Then Honohan really should have scored but contrived to shoot wide dead in front of goal from Mandroiu’s cross.
Gaffney would make no such mistake on 65 minutes. Powering away down the right on to Dylan Watts’ ball, the veteran front-runner cut inside Bannon before driving a shot past Brian Maher to the far corner of the net.
It marked the 35-year-old Tuam striker’s fifth goal in his last six games; his eighth league goal of the campaign and 10th in total for the season.
Derry’s bad night in Dublin 24 was compounded on 80 minutes when defender Bannon was dismissed for a foul on Honohan, his second yellow card.
St Patrick’s Athletic had the ideal fillip ahead of their Conference League meeting with Turkish side Besiktas with a 2-0 away to Waterford to leapfrog them back up to sixth place.
Kian Leavy threaded a perfectly weighted through pass for the run of 17-year-old Tottenham-bound Mason Melia who slipped the ball confidently past Stephen McMullan for an 18th minute lead.
Substitute Conor Carty sealed the points on 84 minutes when shooting home Brandon Kavanagh’s corner.
On Saturday, champions Shelbourne warmed up for their Europa League trip to Croatia with a 2-0 win at in-form Sligo Rovers to move to within four points of Bohemians, whom they meet at Tolka Park next Saturday.
A fine solo goal from Ali Coote put Joey O’Brien’s side into a 47th minute lead.
Sean Boyd, who hadn’t scored in the league since hitting a brace on the opening night of the campaign, was sprung from the bench to add the second goal on 77 minutes.
Sligo finished the game with 10 men after goalkeeper Sam Sargeant was sent off for handling the ball outside his box.
Shamrock Rovers: McGinty; Cleary (O’Sullivan, 86), Lopes, Grace; Grant (McGovern, 74), McEneff (Malley, h-t), Watts, Healy, Honohan; Mandroiu (Matthews, 74); Gaffney (Noonan, 69)
Derry City: Maher; Bannon, Connolly, Stott; O’Reilly, Winchester, Diallo (R. Boyce, 85), Fleming; L. Boyce (Whyte, 63), Duffy (Doherty, 85); Akinyemi (Mullen, 63)
Referee: Paul McLaughlin (Dublin)
Attendance: 4,577
