Burke rings up his century in style as Rovers come from behind to deny Shels
SSE Airtricity League Premier Division, Tallaght Stadium, Dublin 6/4/2026
Graham Burke’s 100th goal for Shamrock Rovers proved to be the winner as the champions came from behind to move within a point of top spot.
Ali Coote’s opener constituted a deserved Shelbourne opener but quickfire goals by captain Pico Lopes and Michael Noonan before the break engineered the turnaround.
Burke was gifted the present of a third 12 minutes into the second half and despite Jack Henry Francis reducing the arrears, it’s back-to-back defeats for Joey O’Brien’s Reds.
For a middle game of a three-match week immediately after the international break, both teams made five changes.
The freshness certainly seemed to benefit Shelbourne more, albeit they started without an orthodox striker. Their ‘false nine’ system entailed Will Jarvis, nominally a fleet-footed dribbler, operating in the advanced role, supported by Harry Wood and Coote.
Both Wood and Jarvis first appeared for Shels as loanees during their period their parent club Hull City owned the Reds but the new hierarchy provided the financial firepower to purchase both Englishman on permanent deals.
Getting the pair of them on the pitch simultaneously has been a challenge for Shels due to the inactive period Jarvis endured at previous club Notts County but they looked cohesive on their first together for a month.
Facing a stiff breeze didn’t help their desire for fluidity as the opening half hour descended into a scrap but a trademark dash from Wood on 17 minutes drew a bodycheck from Lopes that earned a free-kick which Kerr McInroy saw blocked by the wall.
The equivalent linkman in the Rovers ranks, Burke, also displayed his class three minutes later when spinning away from his marker before rifling a low shot beyond the near post.
Chances were sparse but one lapses by Rovers was punished by the lethal Shels combo on the half hour.
Central to Jarvis’s role was suppressing the space which Rovers‘s Cork-born midfielder Matt Healy thrives on and from a short Cory O’Sullivan pass on the halfway line, the Reds playmaker was first to the ball.
His burst towards goal created a gap for Wood to attack and from the squared pass, his low shot was heading for the corner. Ed McGinty’s strong right arm kept the ball out but Coote followed in from the left to scoop the rebound home.
Rovers looked rattled at that point. Coote may regret blazing his curler high and wide within minutes as the game was flipped by a couple of goals two minutes apart heading into the break.
McInroy upending Burke as he sped away seemed a sensible ploy but from the free kick, the Shels defence expecting Jack Byrne to shoot allowed Lopes drift in at the back post undetected. All he needed with a cushioned volley to clip in the equaliser off the post.
Lopes was integral to the second as well, launching a long ball which Shels defender Zeno Rossi botched.
The loanee miscontrolling the ball at his feet to enable Noonan break free and roll the ball under Wessel Spiel capped a forgettable weekend after his own-goal in Friday’s 3-2 defeat at home to Dundalk.
O’Brien withdrew Coote at the break but the momentum stuck with Rovers whose set-piece specialist Byrne was causing havoc.
Spiel was fortunate that Byrne’s first corner smacked the near and from the next, on 57, the Dutchman froze by dropping the ball at the feet of Burke to gobble up the remnants.
Former Arsenal trainee Henry-Francis made the conclusion more nervous than it needed by drilling a 20-yard shot past McGinty with 12 minutes left but Spiel, up for a late corner, couldn’t atone for his clanger.
E McGinty; T Sobowale, R Lopes, C O’Sullivan; J Mulraney (A Matthews 72), M Healy, V Ozhianvuna (N Razi 80), M Asamoah (J O’Sullivan 67); J Byrne (D Grant 58), G Burke (A Greene 80); M Noonan.
W Speel; S Gannon (J Roche 76), Z Rossi, K Ledwidge, J Norris (R Frietas 64); JJ Lunney, K McInroy (D Kelly 76); J Henry-Francis, H Wood, A Coote (M Lundgren 46); D Jarvis (J Martin 64).
Kevin O’Sullivan (Cork).
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