LONG RANGE LOB SEES DERRY TAKE POINTS
THIRD-PLACED Derry City made it a clean sweep of victories this season over Shamrock Rovers last night at Tallaght Stadium to soar eight points clear of the Hoops. Second-half goals from Aaron McEneff and Barry McNamee earned the Candystripes a deserved fourth straight victory. Though Rovers enjoyed plenty of possession, they hit the selfdestruct button to concede the opener on 64 minutes. Ronan Finn’s dawdling on the ball in his own half backfired as the ball broke to McEneff and the midfielder was given the time and space to advance and fire a 25-yard shot beyond the static Tomer Chencinski. Back came Rovers but, apart from half-chances for Gary Shaw and Trevor Clarke, they failed to trouble Ger Doherty. Instead, their goalkeeper Chencinski cost them another goal. He got caught out while up for a corner, allowing McNamee to lob the ball home from all of 35 yards.
SHAMROCK ROVERS: Chencinski; Madden, Grace, Webster, L Byrne (Boyd 83); McAllister (M O’Connor 87), Finn; Miele, Burke, Clarke; Shaw. DERRY CITY: G Doherty; McDermott, Cole, Barry, B Doherty (Monaghan 65); McEneff, McNamee; Schubert (N Boyle 81), Holden (Jarvis 57), Curtis; Patterson. Scorers: McEneff 64, McNamee 90+2. Referee: R Harvey (Dublin). Att: 2,872. JOHN FALLON
LIMERICK’S relegation fears continue to grow after another defeat against Dundalk at Oriel Park last night. After a winless July and just one win in seven, Neil McDonald’s side are now just three points clear of the relegation places after being outclassed by a Lilywhites side who never really had to get out of second gear. Patrick McEleney gave the home side the lead on 32 minutes with a stunning free kick to the top left hand corner of the net. Brian Gartland then doubled the advantage eight minutes after the restart by heading home his side’s 50th league goal of the season from Michael Duffy’s delivery. The same players then combined for the third goal three minutes later. Duffy’s corner was headed on by Gartland with
Robbie Benson pouncing to complete the victory. With plenty of interest in McEleney from cross-channel clubs, the home fans gave him a standing ovation when he was taken off with six minutes left. Limerick, whose team bus broke down on the way to the game, failed to register a shot on target throughout. DUNDALK: Rogers; Gannon, Gartland, Hoare, Vemmelund; Connolly, Benson (O’Donnell 68), Shields, Duffy; McEleney (Mountney 84); McMillan (McGrath 76). Scorers: McEleney 32, Gartland 53, Benson 56. LIMERICK FC: B Clarke; Cotter (Kenny 67), Whitehead, Crowe, O’Connor; Clarke, Lynch, Duggan, Cameron (Hery 64), Ogbene; Tosi. Referee: D Tomney (Dublin). JAMES ROGERS