ROVERS SAVE THE BEST UNTIL LAST
SEE no evil, hear no evil.
Shamrock Rovers made a mockery of Shkupi’s bizarre declaration that they would unleash all sorts of retribution on Irish soil after their travel chaos.
Gary O’Neill saw to that, capping an outstanding display with the goal of his dreams deep in injury-time.
And it leaves the Hoops within touching distance of European group stage football with Graham Burke and Dylan Watts weighing in with vital goals.
The second-half injury to Chris McCann handed Shkupi a way out of the dark hole they were hiding in.
Queven scored from distance with 13 minutes to go and Tuesday’s tie was briefly in an unnecessarily awkward balance.
But O’Neill took control of matters with the final kick, blasting Sean Hoare’s layoff high into the South Stand goal as the fans lost themselves in the magic.
See out the tie in North Macedonia and Stephen Bradley’s charges are guaranteed the group stages of the Europa Conference League at worst.
But with confidence soaring, they will have designs of progressing to meet either Qarabag or Ferencvaros in the playoff round of the Europa League proper.
Spotting that their opponents’ gripe with their Irish travel experience was seeping into their laboured performance, Rovers went for the jugular.
Saves
Alan Mannus had to make a couple of breathtaking saves, but the only frustration is that Shkupi scored one.
They had the hump after landing in Shannon rather than Dublin and issued a madcap statement earlier in the day that pointed the finger at anyone and everyone.
“The reward of being a team is to respond as a team to the evil done to you in the same way,” it read.
“Today our team will show you what a character it is, like lions on the field, it will show that there is no team that will not bow down to such cheap games.”
But Rovers were ahead after 12 minutes.
Andy Lyons, on one of his raiding runs off the flank, was sent crashing to the deck under a clumsy Albert Diene challenge.
The Polish referee awarded the penalty and up stepped Burke to slot home.
Burke was always teasing and tormenting around the box and both Rory Gaffney and Ronan Finn almost turned home shots of his.
Shkupi had no idea how to handle Gaffney, the League of Ireland’s best player this season.
The striker’s power, pace and football intelligence was off the charts here and keeper Kristijan Naumovski had to punch one of his shots to safety.
And the second goal was always coming and Rovers got their reward in the 29th minute.
Clipped
Mannus’ clipped kickout was flicked on by Burke into Gaffney’s path and he squared to Watts. The way the midfielder controlled the ball in the box was exquisite, and his finish was equally so.
The North Macedonians offered little apart from fouls, although Angelce Timovski kept Mannus honest with a shot from distance, as did Freddy Alvarez.
While O’Neill wasn’t far away with a long range screamer, Shkupi were enjoying their best period in the game by this stage. Mannus pulled off another flying save to deny Sunday Adetunji. Yet the flight of the ball deceived him when Shkupi clawed back a goal with 13 minutes to go when Queven scored from distance.
But Rovers saved their best for last. O’Neill doesn’t score often, but when he does they tend to matter. Think Brann in Europe. Think the FAI Cup final shootout. His rocket could yet take Rovers deep into Europe.