St Patrick's Athletic (0) - Shamrock Rovers (2)

St Patrick's Athletic 0 - Shamrock Rovers 2

Shamrock Rovers, as their fans might sing, showed why they are champions to silence the locals by the Camac with a 2-0 victory over St Patrick's Athletic.

This Dublin derby was no classic but captivating nonetheless Ã¢â‚¬â€œ at least until Trevor Clarke's thunderbolt on 69 minutes.

Johnny Kenny had given the Hoops the lead on 20 and, while Pat's were pressing hard for an equaliser for most of the game, any complaints of theirs would reasonably meet deaf ears.

Rovers know how to win games like this and it is to their credit that they have gone from a ropey start to looking favourites to retain their crown in a handful of weeks. This was a chastening night for Tim Clancy's Saints, too many of whom simply did not perform.

Jack Byrne arrived in Dublin 8 sporting shades in the spring sun amid speculation around his potential move to the US.

Rory Gaffney (hamstring) was among those not available for the champions. Saints had a patched-up back two of Jay McGrath and Noah Lewis; Kenny and the sensational Graham Burke would be confident of causing them problems.

The opening was pretty frantic, Chris Forrester nearly getting in, with Gary O'Neill slicing over from just outside the other box on nine minutes.

There was a swagger about the Hoops football from their own six-yard box that resulted in Burke finding the ball on his weaker foot two minutes later and his effort lacked the quality of the move that preceded it, Byrne at its heart; moments later Jake Mulraney flashed wide, the game coming to the boil.

On 17 minutes, Forrester tried to roll Dan Cleary, who handled and would be in peril thereafter, picking up a risky yellow.

Gaffney's absence ensured a start for Kenny and his finish for the opener betrayed his youth.

Lee Grace latched onto a loose ball and played a beautiful ball into Kenny, Saints' defence exposed, and the Sligo native found the bottom corner without a semblance of fuss. The manner of which Kenny let the ball manoeuvre its way past him was almost as impressive as the pass.

Another goal Ã¢â‚¬â€œ which very nearly arrived after the half-hour mark Ã¢â‚¬â€œ would have all but killed the game but Cleary glanced just wide from a sumptuous Byrne delivery from a corner.

Mulraney's subsequent zinger from the other end was every bit as good and Forrester's header again just edged passed the post of Alan Mannus, neither keeper having made a save as yet.

The first 15 minutes after the restart were scrappy and enthralling. Mulraney's delivery should have produced a better finish from Lennon before the former forced Mannus to parry.

Then one of the standout moments. Dean Lyness had initially struggled with a deflection from a Byrne cross but he did something of a Gordon Banks impression with a stop from the Kenny rebound that had the ground rocking.

Lennon is enjoying a more advanced role of late and thought he'd equalised midway through the half Ã¢â‚¬â€œ as did the home crowd Ã¢â‚¬â€œ but his shot tailed off wide.

Rovers were no longer convincing that they would hold on much longer Ã¢â‚¬â€œ and they doubled their lead within seconds.

Clarke picked up a loose ball from a McGrath header within the centre circle, enjoyed shy of half a dozen touches and launched a bullet into the top corner.

Young Adam Murphy might have pulled him down but he was already on a yellow for doing the same to Byrne. He was taken off shortly afterwards but showed more than enough to suggest he is going to develop into a really good midfielder.

The life had gone out of the Saints now but not Farrugia, whose marauding run down the right resulted in Burke forcing a Lyness parry; Kenny was unable to shovel the ball home when he would have expected to score.

Stephen Bradley emptied his bench at the death, Byrne getting more applause when he might have been across the Atlantic. One senses he was happy enough.

Â© rte.ie

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St Patrick's Athletic 0 - Shamrock Rovers 2

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