CHAMPIONS GET THE BRUSH OFF
ONE of Sligo Rovers’ titlewinners from last season may have put a serious dent in the Bit O’ Red’s hopes of retaining the crown this year. Goalkeeper Richard Brush saved a penalty and pulled off a string of top-class saves, as his Shamrock Rovers side survived a dominant display from the home side at the Showgrounds on Saturday.
Brush prevented David McMillan’s 48thminute spot-kick crossing the line and also grabbed the rebound before the inrushing striker had a chance to fire off a second attempt, as the visitors clung on for a point. He also pulled off impressive stops to deny Danny North and Iarfhlaith Davoren in the second half and Sligo boss Ian Baraclough was full of praise for his former goalkeeper.
‘David (McMillan) is distraught in the dressing-room but he hit the target and Brushy has gone and saved it, and he had a good game,’ said Baraclough.
‘Sometimes that happens when players go back to their old clubs and maybe think they have something to prove.
‘But Richard Brush is a good goalkeeper. Make no bones about it. We performed as well as we have done all season but we haven’t got our rewards.
‘We kept knocking on the door all night. Maybe sometimes the final ball wasn’t quite there, but a lot of the time it was and we did not get the rub of the green.
‘It was a one-sided game. Only one team was going to win it. We created many chances, won a penalty, hit the post and had most of the play.’
It was draw number 12 in the league for Shamrock Rovers this season, and leaves them 10 points off leaders St Patrick’s Athletic, with a game more played.
For the Bit O’ Red, they are six off the Saints, and three behind second-placed Dundalk, but Baraclough feels they are still right in the mix for league honours.
‘If we perform like that between now and the end of the season, we will be right up there,’ he said.
‘We have obviously dropped two points on the top two, but they can be got back. The top teams have still got to go and play each other. It is in our own hands insofar as we can put as much pressure on as possible by looking after our own results.
‘If St Pat’s win every game between the now and the end of the season, they win the league, but how likely is that? We’ll see. We’ll see how they handle it.’
Sligo had the bulk of the chances in the opening half, with Lee Lynch denied by Brush, Seamus Conneely shooting over from close range, Joseph Ndo clipping the post from a free-kick and Raffaele Cretaro unable to pull the trigger after breaking into the area from the left-hand side.
The visitors were hit with an early blow as attacker Mark Quigley picked up a calf injury and had to be replaced by Gary McCabe.
Instead defender Jason McGuinness had the Hoops’ best chance of the opening half, when his header from Sean O’Connor’s corner was blocked by Davoren. McGuinness was in trouble in his own box just three minutes after the restart, however, as he clashed with Evan McMillan and referee Neil Doyle pointed to the spot. Luckily for McGuinness, Brush guessed right for David McMillan’s penalty, and the visitors survived.
After McMillan had another effort come back off the post, and Brush saved a fantastic dipping shot from North, the visitors went close to nicking it, with Ronan Finn testing Gary Rogers with a low drive, and substitute Eamon Zayed unlucky to see an effort blocked by the excellent Gavin Peers.
Shamrock Rovers boss Trevor Croly was reasonably satisfied with the point.
‘It was scrappy, we could have lost it, we could have won it. We probably didn’t do enough to win it. To come to the champions and to get a draw is no shame.’