Shamrock Rovers 2 Kildare County 0 by Ger McNally

Shamrock Rovers showed little sign of rustiness as they returned to winning ways following the mid season break with this comfortable win over a lacklustre Kildare at a windy Tolka Park on Wednesday evening.

Kildare went into this without the services of the suspended trio, Stephen Cooling, Dave Scully and Stephen McCrossan so the last thing they needed was to lose Thomas Morgan before kick off due to food poisoning. Unbelievably things got even worse for County after just 11 minutes when they lost the services of key centre half, Philip Byrne.

Byrne damaged his hamstring as he fouled Pardaig Amond when the Rovers striker was chasing a long ball into the left hand corner. Not only was Byrne shown a yellow card, but the injury was bad enough for him to be substituted.

Rovers made sure that Kildare paid the ultimate penalty when Jamie Duffy’s free kick was turned into his own net by Darren McKenna under pressure from Barry Prenderville.

Byrne’s departure saw a major reshuffle in the Kildare team with his namesake Alan, dropping into centre half and Alan Mulcahy taking up a more central role. With four out and out wingers in midfield, Kildare were always going to struggle and gradually Rovers took control with Ray Scully in particular, impressive for the Hoops.

Padraig Amond, making his full Rovers debut, set up Ian Maher for a chance after 18 minutes but Kennedy made a comfortable save, diving to his right.

Rovers continued to push forward and Scully almost took advantage of a bad touch by Alan Mulcahy but he fired just over from 25 yards.

With Kildare struggling to keep hold of any meaningful possession, Rovers were able to knock the ball around throughout the first half and indeed it took Kildare 40 minutes to have their first shot on target. Ian Brazil laid the ball into the path of Darren McKenna but Barry Murphy comfortably saved his weak shot.

Although Kildare improved after the break with Philip Gorman causing the Rovers defence problems in his first game for over a year, it was the home side who doubled their lead on the hour mark. Tadhg Purcell split the Kildare defence with a perfectly weighted through ball and Ian Malone was adjudged to have fouled Padraig Amond and a penalty was awarded. Purcell made no mistake as he crashed his penalty in off the underside of the bar

Amond was causing Kildare plenty of problems with his pace and movement and he turned Malone inside and out before firing a shot just wide after 65 minutes.

The impressive Amond again went close with 12 minutes but Brendan Kennedy did well to hold onto his powerful 25 yard shot.

This was an excellent performance from Rovers and they played some really nice football at times particularly in the midfield area where Ray Scully and Ian Maher were in total control.

The result leaves Shamrock Rovers two points behind Limerick at the top of the Eircom League Division 1 although the Shannonsiders have played a game less.

Man of the Match: Padraig Amond (Shamrock Rovers). Excellent full debut from the young Rovers striker, all he was missing was a goal.


Shamrock Rovers: Murphy, Prendereville, Clarke,  Price, Kenny; Duffy,Scully, Maher, O’Connor (McGill 61); Purcell (Doyle 90), Amond (Sheppard 83).

Kildare County:  Kennedy, O’Meara (Slattery HT), Clancy, Malone, P Byrne (Brazil 11); Mulcahy, A Byrne, Reilly, Kelly; Gorman, McKenna (Delaney 66).

Referee: Tom Connolly (Dublin).