Late Johnny Kenny strike seals all three points for Shamrock Rovers at Galway
Winning goal scorer Johnny Kenny of Shamrock Rovers.
Two loanees combined late on to get Shamrock Rovers off to their first win at the fifth attempt in a campaign they hope to conclude with a fifth straight title.
Newly-promoted Galway looked just as likely to settle a tight contest until Darragh Burns, on loan from MK Dons, dashed to the endline and squared for Johnny Kenny to stroke the ball home from six yards.
Kenny, as a Sligoman, is aware of how the west can awaken in the League of Ireland and the striker - borrowed from Celtic again this term - took just 13 minutes from his introduction off the bench to nick it.
The return of captain Pico Lopes to the starting line-up last week, following a well-earned post-African Cup of Nations rest, began to give Rovers a familiar look of their champions but they still drew a blank at Sligo Rovers.
Though Lopes was prominent from the outset here, it was by incurring a fourth minute booking. Referee Paul McLaughlin was unwilling to afford the benefit of doubt when he hauled Conor McCarthy down after executing a sublime piece of control from a dropping ball. That had him on edge for another 90 minutes in a game that was bound to be niggly in the circumstances. His defensive partner Dan Cleary joined him later for another late challenge on the same left side of the pitch.
Galway have snapped their seven-year stay in the purgatory of the First Division to earn nights like this when the champions rock up with their boisterous travelling support.
Numerous factors have contributed to the revival. Retaining patience with a supremo who’d won the title as player after two unsuccessful tilts at promotion was fully vindicated for a start.
Luke Comer, one of the billionaire brothers who two years ago assumed an 85% stake in the club, always had faith in the ex-Cork City chief and has backed their efforts by pledging a minimum annual commitment of €500,000.
That wedge wasn’t going to be squandered on the first-team but did enable Caulfield to re-sign the core of his First Division winners and strengthen with a couple of additions. Their training centre in Athenry, once free of planning issues, will soak up the investment too.
It will certainly need that – and a dollop of State support - if Comer’s vow of the facility being superior to Arsenal’s comes to fruition.
For the time being, they’ll content themselves that the feelgood factor around the county’s football team has returned.
Predicting who’ll win the title is as difficult as the sole team that’ll be automatically relegated but despite this setback, based on their six games to date, there’s little for their hardcore to be concerned about.
As Cork City discovered to their cost last year, shoring up defence is halfway to survival and the double-act of Caulfield and Ollie Horgan ensured the fundamentals are intact.
However, a touch of magic can be decisive at this level. Rovers conjured theirs with six minutes left, springing the offside trap to expose tired minds, probably moreson than bodies.
Sluggish starts are nothing new to a Rovers team pursuing history with their succession of silverware. Seven matches had elapsed before the winning feeling was enjoyed last year.
But they were surprisingly open in the first half, fortunate that their hosts were similarly guilty of slackness and indecision when space was presented.
Stephen Walsh was the most culpable, the ruthless streak that grabbed him 18 goals last lacking when he opted to lay the ball off rather than shoot from a left-wing cross.
Rovers, having absorbed some of that early pressure, had Galway back-peddling midway through the half from a Dylan Watts lofted pass.
Advancing goalkeeper Brendan Clarke and defender Al-Amin Kazeem got in a mix-up but the defender recovered sufficiently to block Graham Burke’s shot.
The Rovers attacker did force the Galway custodian into the only real save of the first half, pushing away his stinging drive.
Lopes and Josh Honohan also went close, without attaching accuracy to their headers from corners.
While Leon Pohls were forced to tip David Hurley’s corner over the crossbar on the stroke of half-time, he was rarely troubled throughout despite the Tribesman enjoying spells of possession.
As the second half descended into a set-piece battle, Walsh nodded his header wide from Hurley’s corner but Rovers applied the pressure from a few corners in succession.
“There were no panic stations from us,” reflected man-of-the-match Dylan Watts, who’d released Burns with one of his trademark passes.
That they took their time to inflict a third defeat on Galway is a mark of a dominant force.
B Clarke; C Horgan, R Slevin, K Brouder, AA Kazeem; C McCormack, D Hurley; K O’Sullivan (A Dervin 30), V Borden (P Hickey 86), E McCarthy (F Lomboto 86); S Walsh.
L Pohls; D Cleary, R Lopes, L Grace; D Burns (S Hoare 87), D Watts, M Poom, J Honohan (C Noonan 71); D Nugent (J Kenny 71), G Burke; R Gaffney (A Greene 78).
Paul McLaughlin (Donegal).
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