Airtricity League Premier Division Derry City 0 Shamrock Rovers 2
SHAMROCK Rovers produced a masterclass display to easily see off fellow title contenders Derry City, at the Ryan McBride Brandywell Stadium.
The Tallaght men's opening strike from Richie Towell was a stunning team-goal and certainly a goal of the season contender.
The Dubliners showed why they're champions as for the majority of the encounter they were in complete control and in midfielder Jack Byrne they had the best player on the pitch.
Derry never really got going and manager Ruaidhri Higgins will be disappointed that, in truth, his side never laid a glove on the Dubliners.
City made one change to their team which saw off St Patrick's Athletic on Friday night with Jamie McGonigle replacing Cian Kavanagh, who dropped to the bench.
An interesting spectator at the game was Republic of Ireland international James McClean who was supporting his home town club.
A lovely passing move by the home side early on ended with Sadou Diallo's superb crossfield pass finding Ryan Graydon. The right winger's cross found Michael Duffy at the back post, but his downward header flew just wide.
The Dubliners really started to get a big foothold in the encounter with Byrne pulling the strings and City were fortunate on 14 minutes as Shane McEleney got back to clear Towell's close-range flick towards goal.
Rovers deservedly took the lead on 30 minutes in stunning fashion as Byrne's delightful cross field pass found Trevor Clarke, his first time header found Towell, who pushed into the box and superbly volleyed the ball over Brian Maher.
Right on the stroke of half-time Byrne's quick thinking a goalkeeping error by Maher resulted in Rovers doubling their lead.
The City shot-stopper raced out of his goal to clear the ball close to the left hand side-line, Gary O'Neill flicked the clearance down into the centre of the pitch and Byrne fired home into the unguarded net.
Higgins made a double substitution at the break with Colm Whelan and Jordan McEneff replacing McGonigle and Oliver O'Neill.
The Dubliners suffered an injury set-back just after the hour mark as goalkeeper Alan Mannus had to be replaced by Leon Pohls after the ex-Linfield netminder seemed to hurt his hand.
City should have gone close to pulling a goal back on 71 minutes as McEneff's pass found fellow substitute Kavanagh, but the big striker's touch let him down and Pohls easily gathered.
Four minutes from time Derry were rightfully awarded a penalty after Daniel Cleary fouled Cian Kavanagh, but Ben Doherty's resulting spot-kick was saved by Pohls, the keeper diving to his right to gather the ball.
Meanwhile, a brace from Frantz Pierrot paved the way for Athlone to cruise past an out-of-sorts Finn Harps (4-1) in Ballybofey to go third in the SSE Airtricity League First Division and close the gap on leaders Galway United and Waterford FC who both lost.
Athlone, who have now scored 10 goals in their last three games, were physically much stronger and were good value for their win over a Harps side who drop to seventh.
The visitors hit the front in the 12th minute with Jack Kavanagh playing a ball through to Pierrot to fire past Tim Hiemer.
The midlanders doubled their advantage in the 33rd minute when Seamas Keogh had the misfortune to see the ball bounce awkwardly up and off his arm and a penalty was awarded from which Pierrot duly obliged with his ninth goal of the season.
Harps could have been four down at the break. Jamar Campion-Hinds shot across the face of goal and just wide while Matthew Leal also saw a shot narrowly off target.
Harps began the second half on a more positive note and Katiego Mashiho went close with a well struck effort, but they were dealt a further blow with captain Ryan Rainey having to go off injured.
Pierrot was almost in for a third on 68 minutes but his shot was well saved by Tim Hiemer.
However, from the resulting corner Haji Abdikadir forced the ball home to make it 3-0 after Patrick Hickey’s header had smacked off the crossbar.
Worse was to follow for the Donegal side as Valerii Dolia let fly with a thundering drive from the edge of the box to make it 4-0 in the 74th minute and silence the majority in the attendance of 1,221.
Filip Da Silva headed in a consolation goal for Harps in the 88th minute.
Derry City: Maher, Boyce, S McEleney, McJannet, Doherty; Diallo (C Kavanagh 68), O'Reilly, O'Neill (McEneff HT); Graydon (B Kavanagh 84), McGonigle (Whelan HT), Duffy.
Shamrock Rovers: McManus (Pohls 63), Cleary, Lopes, Grace; Finn (Hoare 77), O'Neill, Poom, Towell, Clarke (Farrugia 77); Byrne, Kenny (Greene 68).
Referee: Robert Harvey (Dublin).
Finn Harps: Hiemer; McCallion, Farrar (O’Donnell, 67 mins), McMonagle; Keogh, Rainey (Okwute, 59 mins), Baba, Harris, Flood (Duffy, 83 mins); Mashigo (Jordan, 83 mins); Da Silva.
Athlone Town: Velikin; Abdikadir (Baker, 75 mins), Rodriguez, Van Geenen, Kavanagh; Leal (Mutawe, 75 mins), Hickey; Campion-Hinds (Lennon, 61 mins); Connolly, Dolia (Ryan, 75 mins); Pierrot (McCarrick, 81 mins).
Referee: M. Lynch (Galway).
