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Date Time League Season
3 November 2023 7:45 pm LOI Men's Premier Division 2023

Match Report

Hoops Celebrate Title Success In Style

Shamrock Rovers celebrated their fourth league title in a row with a conclusive 4-2 win over Sligo Rovers in front of a packed-out Tallaght Stadium.

It proved to be the end of an era in some regard for The Hoops, with Ronan Finn and Alan Mannus both making their final appearances in Green and White. The Hoops were subject to a slow start as Sligo took the lead early on, Kailin Barlow snagging the ball from Pico Lopes before drawing in on goal to open the scoring.

Stephen Bradley’s side began to respond towards the end of the first half when Graham Burke equalised in injury time, Aaron Greene and Dylan Watts then netting twice to wrap up a victory, Fabrice Hartman bagging a consolation goal towards the end of play to reduce the deficit to two.

The game marked the end of an era in a sense as Ronan Finn was awarded with a start only to be replaced by Neil Farrugia a minute after kick-off, the captain waving his goodbyes to fans and teammates.

It marks the end of an illustrious Rovers career for Finn, the full-back’s making over 400 appearances and winning five league titles with The Hoops, and the only player in the squad to have been part of their win in 2012.  

Alan Mannus, one of the spine figures in this historic four-in-a-row also made his last appearance in a Rovers kit, the Northen Irish keeper set to hang up his gloves at the end of the season.

The Hoops looked to possibly have been feeling the effects of prolonged celebrations as the game got underway, Pico Lopes caught far too complacent in possession as Kian Barlow nicked the ball and dawned in on goal.

Alan Mannus was unable to produce any goalkeeping heroics in his final appearance for The Hoops, Barlow calmly slotting home in front of the South stand.

The hosts began to grow into the game after that early goal but were dogged by lacklustre finishing, Graham Burke, Johnny Kenny and Rory Gaffney all squandering golden opportunities to put their side level.

The breakthrough came in injury time of the first half, Gaffney spraying a fantastic diagonal ball into the feet of Burke, the forward squaring the Sligo defence up before clinically firing past Conor Walsh into the bottom left corner.

Rovers found more joy as the second half restarted, substitute Dylan Watts-having provided the assist for Aaron Greene’s winner against Pats-again proving influential off the bench, this time bending in a superb free-kick from 25 yards out to put The Hoops ahead.

Momentum continued to flow in favour of the hosts as Aaron Greene soon netted the third, Dylan Watts smashing home a loose ball in the Sligo box to grab his second of the match and make it 4-1.

Stephen Bradley’s side cruised to victory from there on, Fabrice Hartman netting a consolation goal to cut the deficit down to two goals.

The victory from a goal down seemed to be emblematic of the Rovers season of a whole, their seven point league victory making it easy to forget just how much worry there was at the start of the season when The Hoops failed to pick up a single win in their six matches.

From that point on, Rovers rallied and showed their class, occasionally dropping points to smaller teams, but crucially, rarely dropping any points when it came to the key clashes against the likes of Derry, St. Patrick’s Athletic and Bohemians.  

The league victory etches the squad into the history books as just the second squad in League of Ireland history to compete the four-in-a-row. In a fitting tribute, Finn lifted the trophy with Pat Burke, the captain of the Rovers ‘80s side, the only other squad to achieve the feat of four-in-a-row.

Shamrock Rovers

1Alan Mannus 25 Goalkeeper
4Roberto Lopes Defender
5Lee Grace Defender
6Daniel Cleary 3 Defender
11Sean Kavanagh Defender
8Ronan Finn 23 Midfielder
16Gary O’Neill Midfielder
17Richie Towell 7 Midfielder
10Graham Burke 9 Forward 45'
20Rory Gaffney Forward
24Johnny Kenny Forward
3Sean Hoare 6 Defender
7Dylan Watts 17 Midfielder 51', 66'
9Aaron Greene 10 Forward 60'
15Darragh Nugent Midfielder
23Neil Farrugia 8 Midfielder
25Leon Pohls 1 Goalkeeper
27Liam Burt Midfielder
34Conan Noonan Midfielder
39Najemedine Razi Midfielder

Sligo Rovers

31Conor Walsh Goalkeeper
4Reece Hutchinson 2 Defender
21John Mahon Defender
6Greg Bolger 18 Midfielder
7Will Fitzgerald Midfielder
8Niall Morahan 19 Midfielder
11Fabrice Hartmann Midfielder 81'
22David Cawley 47 Midfielder
26Garry Buckley Midfielder
34Kailin Barlow Midfielder 9'
14Karl O’Sullivan Forward
2Johan Brannefalk 4 Defender
3Danny Lafferty Defender
10Frank Liivak Forward
18Stefan Radosavljevic 6 Forward
19Lukas Browning-Lagerfeldt 8 Midfielder
28Nando Pijnaker Defender
30Richard Brush Goalkeeper
47Owen Elding 22 Forward
71Daire Patton Midfielder
  • Full-time: Shamrock Rovers: 4-2 Sligo Rovers.

  • 90'

    SSE Airtricity player of the match given to Dylan Watts. 1 minute of added time to be played here in Tallaght.

  • 86'

    Attendance tonight tallied at 8,021 a Tallaght Stadium record!

  • 81'

    Goal! Hartman reduces the deficit to two with a tidy finish in the bottom left corner.

  • 74'

    Two more subs for Sligo, Radosavljevic and Brannefalk coming on to replace Hutchinson and Bolger.

  • 69'

    Mannus comes for Pohls and receives a standing ovation from the home fans. Mannus comprised the spine of this historic four-in-a-row side, the Northern Irishman announcing his retirement from the game at the end of the season.

  • 66'

    Watts makes it four with his second of the night! Gaffney finds Farrugia on a sharp overlapping run, the full back squaring the ball to Kenny in the box. Kenny fails to convert as Walsh saves, the rebound falling at the feet of Watts who hammers the ball home.

  • 64'

    Monahan comes off in place of Browning.

  • 60'

    Goal! Greene makes it three! Kenny does well to track back and steal the ball from the feet of Bolger, Farrugia regaining possession and driving forward, playing Greene through who finishes from a tight angle on the right side of the box.

  • 56'

    John Russell brings on his first change of the game as he replaces Cawley with Elding. Burke, who looks out of the running for golden boot, goes off for Greene.

  • 51'

    Goal! Watts makes an instant impact, curling a superb free-kick into the top left corner from 25 yards out!

  • 46'

    Play restarts at Tallaght Stadium. Hoare and Watts come in to replace Cleary and Towell.

  • 45'

    Goal! Burke makes reparations for his error as Gaffney sprays a brilliant diagonal pass into his feet, Burke squaring up the Sligo defence and rifling home into the bottom right corner!

  • 44'

    Another huge opportunity missed for Rovers, Kenny breaking in on goal and squaring the ball across to Burke who fires wayward from close range!

  • 41'

    A quick flick on from Towell at the front post sees the ball to Kenny from close range, the Celtic loanee squandering the chance to level affairs as he brutally slices the ball away from goal and into the desolate North stand.

  • 36'

    Hartman shows off his quality as he picks the ball up on the right wing and dances away from Kavanagh and Grace, his shot blocked by Lopes in the box.

  • 32'

    Grace nearly levels for Rovers as he powers a header goalwards from a corner. It looks to be on target before it deflects off a Sligo body, brief protests over a potential handball swiftly quelled.

  • 26'

    Gaffney goes close! A quick break is orchestrated by Gaffney as he chests a long ball down to Burke who slides Gaffney goal-bound with a delicate through ball. Gaffney's closed down by Mahon and forced to shoot at a tight angle, Walsh making a good save to maintain his side's advantage.

  • 21'

    The hosts look to be growing into the game ever so slightly, Farrugia finding a lot of joy down the right flank and squaring up against Hutchinson.

  • 15'

    Rovers look to still be feeling the effects of some prolonged title celebrations, as their line-up looks far too lax and complacent on the ball in the early stages.

  • 9'

    Goal! Lopes is caught far too complacent in possession and has the ball nicked off his feet by Barlow, the forward breaking through on goal and calmly slotting past Mannus into the bottom left corner.

  • 5'

    In a show of respect Bradley hands Finn a start to commemorate his final game in a Rovers shirt. The capatain says his goodbyes to the fans and teammates before being replaced by Farrugia. It\'s been an illustrious Rovers career that contained five league titles and spanned over 400 appearances between two different stints at the club.

  • 1'

    Action gets underway in Tallaght Stadium!

  • Evening all and welcome to tonight's match coverage of Shamrock Rovers vs Sligo Rovers. The Hoops are set to celebrate their fourth league title in a row, with soon to be departing captain Ronan Finn lifting the trophy with Pat Burke, captain of The Hoops' historic '80s side that also achieved the four-in-a-row. There'll be little to celebrate for Sligo this evening as The Bit O'Red finish off a drab league season in eighth place.

Past Meetings

(Round 17)
4 - 0
LOI Women's Premier Division
Tallaght Stadium

Shamrock Rovers FC v Sligo Rovers FC

(Round 19)
0 - 3
LOI Men's Premier Division
The Showgrounds

Sligo Rovers FC 0-3 Shamrock Rovers FC

(Round 12)
2 - 1
LOI Men's Premier Division
Tallaght Stadium

Shamrock Rovers FC 2-1 Sligo Rovers FC

(Round 1)
1 - 2
LOI Women's Premier Division
The Showgrounds

Sligo Rovers FC 1-2 Shamrock Rovers FC

(Round 1)
1 - 1
LOI Men's Premier Division
The Showgrounds

Sligo Rovers FC 1-1 Shamrock Rovers FC

(Round 31)
1 - 3
LOI Men's Premier Division
The Showgrounds

Sligo Rovers 1-3 Shamrock Rovers

(Round 23)
3 - 1
LOI Men's Premier Division
Tallaght Stadium

Shamrock Rovers v Sligo Rovers

(Round 13)
1 - 1
LOI Men's Premier Division
The Showgrounds

Sligo Rovers v Shamrock Rovers

(Round 7)
2 - 2
LOI Men's Premier Division
Tallaght Stadium

Shamrock Rovers v Sligo Rovers

(Series 31)
2 - 0
LOI Men's Premier Division
Tallaght Stadium

Shamrock Rovers v Sligo Rovers

(Series 20)
0 - 1
LOI Men's Premier Division
The Showgrounds

Sligo Rovers v Shamrock Rovers

(Series 13)
0 - 1
LOI Men's Premier Division
Tallaght Stadium

Shamrock Rovers v Sligo Rovers

(Series 4)
1 - 1
LOI Men's Premier Division
The Showgrounds

Sligo Rovers v Shamrock Rovers

(Semi Final)
2 - 0
FAI Cup
Tallaght Stadium

Shamrock Rovers v Sligo Rovers

(Series 14)
4 - 0
LOI Men's Premier Division
Tallaght Stadium

Shamrock Rovers v Sligo Rovers

(Series 5)
2 - 3
LOI Men's Premier Division
The Showgrounds

Sligo Rovers v Shamrock Rovers

0 - 0
LOI Men's Premier Division
The Showgrounds

Sligo Rovers FC v Shamrock Rovers FC

0 - 0
LOI Men's Premier Division
Tallaght Stadium

Shamrock Rovers FC v Sligo Rovers FC

2 - 1
LOI Men's Premier Division
The Showgrounds

Sligo Rovers FC v Shamrock Rovers FC

3 - 0
LOI Men's Premier Division
Tallaght Stadium

Shamrock Rovers FC v Sligo Rovers FC

2 - 0
LOI Men's Premier Division
The Showgrounds

Sligo Rovers FC v Shamrock Rovers FC

2 - 0
LOI Men's Premier Division
Tallaght Stadium

Shamrock Rovers FC v Sligo Rovers FC

0 - 0
LOI Men's Premier Division
The Showgrounds

Sligo Rovers FC v Shamrock Rovers FC

1 - 0
LOI Men's Premier Division
Tallaght Stadium

Shamrock Rovers FC v Sligo Rovers FC

1 - 1
LOI Men's Premier Division
Tallaght Stadium

Shamrock Rovers FC v Sligo Rovers FC

1 - 0
LOI Men's Premier Division
The Showgrounds

Sligo Rovers FC v Shamrock Rovers FC

1 - 0
LOI Men's Premier Division
Tallaght Stadium

Shamrock Rovers FC v Sligo Rovers FC

3 - 2
LOI Men's Premier Division
The Showgrounds

Sligo Rovers FC v Shamrock Rovers FC

3
LOI Men's Premier Division
Tallaght Stadium

Shamrock Rovers FC v Sligo Rovers FC

2
LOI Men's Premier Division
The Showgrounds

Sligo Rovers FC v Shamrock Rovers FC

1 - 1
LOI Men's Premier Division
The Showgrounds

Sligo Rovers FC v Shamrock Rovers FC

5 - 1
LOI Men's Premier Division
Tallaght Stadium

Shamrock Rovers FC v Sligo Rovers FC

1 - 2
LOI Men's Premier Division
The Showgrounds

Sligo Rovers FC v Shamrock Rovers FC

1
LOI Men's Premier Division
Tallaght Stadium

Shamrock Rovers FC v Sligo Rovers FC

1
LOI Men's Premier Division
The Showgrounds

Sligo Rovers FC v Shamrock Rovers FC

1
LOI Men's Premier Division
Tallaght Stadium

Shamrock Rovers FC v Sligo Rovers FC

Ground

Tallaght Stadium
Tallaght Stadium, Whitestown Way, Tallaght, Dublin 24, D24 XC9W

Alex is a second-year Journalism student at DCU. As well as being a soccer enthusiast, he's also an avid athletics fan, competing in the sport for over ten years.