Rovers have too much firepower

Dundalk 0 Shamrock Rovers 2:A dominant second half performance from Shamrock Rovers saw off a brave Dundalk challenge at Tallaght Stadium and secured the first piece of silverware of the season for the Hoops.

Goals from Gary O’Neill and Billy Dennehy did the damage after Rovers weathered early pressure from Dundalk and took control after the break to claim their first Setanta Sports Cup.

"Delighted," Michael O'Neill told Setanta Irelandafterwards. "We deserved to win but I have to give credit to Dundalk, they played their part.

“A lot of hard work’s gone into that and it was nice to get it after losing the cup final last year.”

Dundalk were lively early on and allowed Rovers very little room for manoeuvre as the set about manufacturing the odd half chance themselves. They weren’t helped, however, by the departure of Stephen McDonnell, who left the pitch early to be replaced by Dean Bennett.

The substitute tested Alan Mannus almost immediately as Dundalk piled on the pressure but the goalkeeper comfortably gathered his shot from the right. He was called into action on 16 minutes when Jason Byrne controlled Ross Gaynor’s ball on his chest before turning and shooting straight at him.

Rovers were indebted to him again in the 31st minute when he clawed Mark Quigley’s free-kick out of the top corner.

O’Neill’s side needed a spark and they found it in the form of man-of-the-match Ronan Finn and Dennehy on the left flank. The latter hit the post with a low curling free after O’Neil was taken down on the edge of the box by Michael Hector.

It prompted a spell of pressure for Rovers and Finn soon forced a fine save out of Peter Cherrie with a rasping low shot from 20 odd yards. The midfielder looked to be through on goal a minute later but Colin Hawkins’s tackle on the edge of the box was inch perfect.

Dundalk might have taken a lead in at the break had David Kearns squared to Jason Byrne, but the northerner decided to shoot early after skipping behind the Rovers defence and screwed his shot tamely wide.

Cherrie again denied Finn soon after the restart and the Dundalk effort was then hampered further by an injury to Byrne, who was replaced by Kevin Ward. It was a development that instantly affected their fluency going forward.

And they were soon worse off after Finn robbed Hector on the left in the 65th minute and skipped past Colm Bolger before squaring it for O’Neill, whoe roofed it into Cherrie’s net.

Rovers took control from there. Dennehy fired wide after an O’Neill dummy and substitute Gary Twigg hit the post after fooling Hector with a clever dropped shoulder.

Mannus still had some work to when turning Quigley’s shot round the post but Dennehy sealed the win when his shot was pushed on to the upright by Cherrie, before rolling agonisingly over the line for Dundalk and sparking wild celebrations in Tallaght.