Drennan double as Shamrock Rovers stroll past Galway United

Shamrock Rovers 3 Galway United 0: Two goals from Mikey Drennan saw Shamrock Rovers finally find their scoring boots at Tallaght Stadium this season.

Substitute Brandon Miele rowed in with a stoppage-time third as Pat Fenlon’s side eased to victory over 10-man Galway.

A blunder from Galway keeper Conor Winn gifted Rovers the lead on 18 minutes.

Coming to gather Madden’s ball over the top, Winn hesitated as he realised he was on the edge of his area. That allowed Gavin Brennan to nip in and head the ball past the stranded keeper for Drennan to run in and tap the loose ball to the net for a soft opener.

Galway remained well in the game, though, and Craig Hyland had to produce a top stop to prevent an equaliser on 34 minutes.

There was more energy to Rovers on the resumption and Keith Fahey drilled just wide minutes in. Winn then made a point-blank save from a Ryan Brennan header from a Fahey free kick on 55 minutes.

Drennan’s follow-up shot appeared to strike a Galway arm, but referee Rob Rogers waved play on.

But Rovers pressure told on 68 minutes. David O’Connor got forward from left-back to pull the ball back from the end line for Drennan whose shot found the net with the help of a deflection.

Galway’s indiscipline struck again on 76 minutes as Marc Ludden was sent off on a second yellow card offence when he tripped Madden.

Sub Miele added the gloss for Rovers a minute into stoppage time on his league debut.

Shamrock Rovers:

Hyland; Madden, Webster, Kenna, D. O’Connor; R. Brennan (McPhail, 71), Cregg; G. Brennan (Miele, 84), Fahey, Waters (S. O‘Connor, 71); Drennan.

Galway Utd:

Winn; Horgan, O’Connell, Garcia, Ludden; Molloy (Cunningham, 58), Sinnott (Raftery, 90+2), Byrne, Shanahan; Curran (Connolly, 58), Keegan.

Referee:

Rob Rogers (Dublin).