GRAH AIM BURKE
Derry in trouble as wonder goal from striker piles on misery at Brandywell
GRAHAM scored a sensational Goal of the Season contender from the halfway line as champions Shamrock Rovers devoured the basement boys.
While the Hoops – who move up to third with this win – are shifting through the gears and starting to motor, Derry City are still stuck on the starting grid.
Marooned at the foot of the table without a point from four games, the pressure is mounting on manager Declan Devine.
And Friday’s TV clash here against promoted Drogheda United is now laced with added significance as the Candystripes boss needs a win to stop the rot.
Will Fitzgerald’s introduction after the break belatedly gave Derry a sense of urgency but it just was too little too late from the hosts.
Rovers were well out of sight by then after Rory Gaffney opened the scoring before Burke’s stunning effort from the halfway line six minutes before the break.
And apart from Derry’s late sense of enthusiasm, the champions were even more comfortable than the scoreline suggests.
Derry rarely looked capable of troubling the Hoops defence and their best chance of the opening half was from a Sean Hoare error.
The defender undercooked a header back to Alan Mannus and although David Parkhouse capitalised, the striker found the side netting.
But it was a false glimmer of hope for the Candystripes and thereafter it was Rovers in complete control.
For half an hour, Nathan Gartside didn’t have a save to make.
Rovers owned the ball and pulled the hosts from pillar to post with their intricate play. All they were missing was an end product.
But their patience was soon rewarded.
On 34 minutes, recent Northern Ireland call-up Gartside got down well at full stretch to keep out Burke’s low shot on the turn. But he parried it into Gaffney’s path and the lurking striker tucked home from a tight angle.
And Derry were goosed five minutes later when Burke spotted Gartside off his line and, from a yard inside the Derry half, unleashed a Goal of the Season contender that left the scrambling Candystripes keeper in a heap. The Rovers bench and the substitutes in the stands had the perfect view of the audacious effort.
And, reading the trajectory from start to finish, they were standing to a man ready to celebrate as the ball sailed over Gartside’s head.
Burke then threatened to double his haul early in the second-half but while Gartside spilled his initial shot, there were no Rovers players nearby to capitalise.
Fitzgerald injected some fizz into the Derry attack off the bench and his clever runs in behind kept the champions honest, but ultimately Derry remained toothless.
And they were blessed late on when Rovers sub Aaron Greene buried his low drive into the side netting, but the champions’ work was long since done.