Shamrock Rovers save Richie Towell’s blushes against Dundalk to go three clear

Liam Scales of Shamrock Rovers scores his side’s equaliser past Dundalk goalkeeper Alessio Abibi during the SSE Airtricity League Premier Division match at Tallaght Stadium. Picture: Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile

Shamrock Rovers 3 Dundalk 1

Shamrock Rovers came from behind to move three points clear at the top of the Premier Division with an entertaining victory over Dundalk.

The champions took advantage of St Patrick’s Athletic’s slip-up at Bohemians to take pole position, for 24 hours at least.

Patrick Hoban had fired the visitors into an early lead following a mistake from former Dundalk playmaker Richie Towell.

Spectacular strikes from defenders Liam Scales and Sean Gannon turned the tie before Aaron Greene wrapped up the win 15 minutes from time.

It concluded what had been a riveting game, the last of three trial events that saw 1,000 fans admitted to Tallaght Stadium.

A travelling contingent of around 100 fans made their voices heard from the early minutes, with debutant Towell subjected to particular scrutiny.

The Inchicore man started brightly, but it was his mistake that led to Hoban’s dramatic opener after 12 minutes.

Towell was caught in possession by Michael Duffy outside his own box, and the winger drew Roberto Lopes before feeding Hoban for a well-taken near-post finish.

Greene went close with a header moments later, while Scales was fortunate to be awarded a free kick as he tangled in the box with Duffy.

Alan Mannus pulled off a terrific save to keep out a point-blank Hoban header to keep it at 1-0.

The equaliser arrived eight minutes before the break courtesy of Scales, who scored a stunning Bergkamp-like goal here in the President’s Cup, who dipped back into his bag of tricks to stride forward from his own half and smash into the top corner.

It got better for the home side on the stroke of half time as a lung-bursting run from Gaffney ended with the striker being fouled.

The free kick was cleared by Ronan Finn, nudging the ball to Gannon to fire home a perfectly struck effort from 20 yards.

The second half couldn’t have lived up to the tempo of the first, but Rovers continued to dominate.

Danny Mandroiu, who replaced Towell in the second half, saw his long-range strike just clear the bar as the Hoops looked to put the tie to rest.

Stephen Bradley’s side sealed the win 15 minutes from time, as Greene picked out the bottom corner following more good work from Scales.

SHAMROCK ROVERS: Alan Mannus; Sean Hoare, Roberto Lopes, Lee Grace; Sean Gannon, Ronan Finn, Gary O’Neill, Liam Scales (Joey O’Brien 79); Richie Towell (Danny Mandroiu 67), Aaron Greene, Rory Gaffney (Dylan Watts 73).

DUNDALK: Alessio Abibi; Raivis Jurkovskis, Andy Boyle, Sonni Nattestad, Darragh Leahy; Greg Sloggett (Wilfried Zahibo 32), Sam Stanton (Daniel Kelly 64), Patrick McEleney; Michael Duffy, Will Patching, Patrick Hoban.