An improvement: Galway United 0-1 Shamrock Rovers
That was a little more like it. After two disastrous performances Rovers rebounded to dig out their first win of the season, showing glimpses of improvement and a road back to last year’s form. The win was marred by a potentially serious injury to goalscorer Pat Sullivan as the injuries continue to add up for the Hoops.
After the terrible performances in the previous two games it was important to grind out a win tonight, in whatever fashion we could. Coming from such a low point before the game Rovers were never going to come out and thrash a decent Galway side, instead it was always going to be about restoring confidence and slowly working towards improving on the awfulness of the Pats and Dundalk games.
[b]Also, sorry for the lack of updates in the last couple of weeks, normal service will now resume…click below to read the full report from Galway[/b[
The catalyst to the improvement was certainly Sean O’Connor who sparked Rovers to life, and for the first time this season injected a bit of creativity in to Rovers causing problems for the opposition. SOC’s set-piece delivery tonight was first class, providing a wonderful assist for Sullivan’s goal after setting up Dennehy from a similar chance moments earlier. SOC was the clear MotM, also producing a wonderful free-kick in the second half well saved by Barry Ryan and testing the keeper again at another opportunity. Finally a bit of creativity, SOC has earned his place in the team for next week against UCD.
Apart from him though the other forward players again didn’t penetrate as we might have hoped. Dennehy has seen a lot of possession in the opening 4 games, and undoubtedly works hard but in all that time hasn’t really skinned a full back, set up a good opportunity for a teammate or finished off a chance. Graham Barrett produced another tireless display up front, but for all his harrying and annoying defenders he lacked another option up front with him to take full advantage. If Barrett can keep up this form Gary Twigg will surely reap the benefits of his hard work on his return (which Tony O’Donoghue suggested could be sooner than we thought on last week’s LoI Podcast). Barrett still hasn’t had a goalscoring opportunity laid off for him in 4 games, but that’s not his fault or through lack of effort. Still, he gets stick from his own fans who fail to see his role in the team, with a lot of people preferring someone who does pretty much nothing for 90 minutes but will score a tap in once every 5 games. Barrett is so much more of a handful than Amond and is a far better team option, even though Amond will score more goals than Graham due to their respective roles.
Elsewhere Stephen Rice was a little more involved, though again not up to last year’s form. Hopefully he’s on the road back there though. Beside him Bayly produced another solid performance, with a lovely first half effort well stopped by Barry Ryan. Although he looks a decent player, Bayly’s temperament is a serious problem and makes him far less of an asset than he might otherwise be. Another bad tackle last night after he should have been sent off last week against Dundalk. Someone needs to have a word with him before the Bohs derby. If he plays in that he’s liable to get himself sent off after 15 minutes and leave his teammates up against it.
At the back Sullivan was stretchered off with a bad looking leg injury which could see him out for some time. Another injury headache for MON to deal with, any chances of getting a settled back 4 after the turbulent off-season has been thrown out the window due to injuries and suspensions so it’s not surprising the slow start we’ve made. Not helping either is the form of Dan Murray. Murray looked better today than in previous games, and delivered one fantastic cross field ball from the centre half position, but a moment of madness should have cost us dearly as he attempted a ridiculous back header that he missed completely. What he was thinking I’ve no idea, had he touched it it would have had the exact same result and left the Galway man through on goal. In goal Alan Mannus continued his decent start to the season, looking commanding, catching all thrown at him, and making one fantastic stop in the second half. Like Barrett he’s come under fire from his own fans at home, but he’s had little chance with any goal we’ve conceded this season (he was wrongly blamed for the second against Galway, though it took a deflection taking the ball right in to the corner of the net). Enda Stevens also put in a decent shift but doesn’t seem to offer much going forward and seems a little lightweight. The jury is definitely still out on the ex-Pats man.
So a first three points of the season and a better starting point to begin putting things right. With Bohs dropping points against Sligo (a fourth poorish performance from four for them, we’re not the only ones struggling) we’re only six points off the top with the whole season to play. The doom and gloom merchants love a good crisis to turn on the management/team but with players returning from injury, suspension and the potential addition of Thomas Stewart and Chris Turner next week there doesn’t seem reason to panic just yet.
