Rovers march on as Saints stunned

St Patrick’s Athletic 0 Shamrock Rovers 2

Both sides displayed attacking endeavour in the early stages with Ronan Finn drifting a fourth-minute header wide from Gary McCabe’s corner while Kenny Browne’s looping effort from a Killian Brennan delivery was tipped over his crossbar by Barry Murphy two minutes later.

The high tempo was maintained with both Christy Fagan and Conor Powell cautioned within three minutes of each other while Daryl Kavanagh turned superbly in the 14th minute but his dipping shot was narrowly wide.