HOOPS MAY RUE BLANK
Rovers still have work to do to secure Europa place
SHAMROCK ROVERS have a habit of making life difficult for themselves and their quest for Europe still has potential to become a sticky one.
Of course, if Cork City beat Bohemians in Monday’s FAI Cup semi-final replay the Hoops will be guaranteed a Europa League spot no matter what happens in their three league games.
But should their arch rivals topple the holders, the race for third may well boil down to the clash with Waterford – now level on points after winning in Dalymount – in Tallaght in a fortnight.
Rovers ought to have been out of sight by half-time, such was their total dominance against a makeshift Cork side showing nine changes from their drawn FAI Cup semi-final.
But not for the first time this season, the Hoops failed to make the most of what they had. It wasn’t for the want of trying though as they finished both halves strongly but alas to no avail.
Early on, Dylan Watts drilled a shot down Peter Cherrie’s throat from distance while skipper Ronan Finn saw a header cleared off the line by Aaron Barry.
Cherrie was then scrambling to tip another dangerous Finn header over his crossbar.
Dan Carr, deployed on the left of an attacking three behind striker Aaron Greene, was a handful in all those exchanges.
Cork, whose manager John Caulfield served a touchline ban after his tunnel altercation against Dundalk, struggled to escape their own half until after the interval. A wild Kieran Sadlier effort that threatened to decapitate a pigeon in the new stand was about as good as it got for the Leesiders.
And yet with Rovers failing to make inroads, the visitors had reason to believe.
Barry Mcnamee threatened to put the Leesiders ahead on the hour but Roberto Lopes was equal to the task, making two important blocks.
Cork were energised by the half-time arrival of Gearoid Morrissey and succeeded in loosening Rovers grip although Greene deserved reward after slicing through on a fine solo run only for Cherrie to save.
So too Finn who was nicely placed to finish a Greene cut back only to blaze over while Sean Kavanagh brought the best out of Cherrie at the death.