Shamrock Rovers eased past an off-colour Shelbourne outfit 3-1 in Tallaght Stadium as The Hoops fight to keep their title chances alive.

Áine O’Gorman took centre stage in the first half, setting up Scarlett Herron’s opener in the 14th minute, before netting herself in the 22nd minute with a scintillating curling effort.

Shels’ Achilles heel proved to be their defending on the right flank, Joy Ralph exploiting the acres of space to find Alannah McEvoy at the back post. Shamrock Rovers cruised home comfortably despite Rebecca Devereux netting a consolation goal in stoppage time., whittling the gap between Peamount United to nine points with a game in hand.

Áine O’Gorman starred throughout for the hosts, the ever-green forward turning in a stellar performance to take advantage of a lax Shelbourne defence.  

O’Gorman was the key creator in the first goal, closing in on what looked to be a wayward pass to the right corner flag before cutting the ball back to Scarlett Herron . Herron caught the ball on the edge of the box and opened her body to produce a well-placed finish in the bottom-right corner, the young midfielder continuing her rich vein of form.  

Minutes later O’Gorman found herself in a near-identical position, gliding past Kerri Letmon before curling a shot from the edge of the box into the top-left corner, Amanda McQuillan left stranded in no man’s land as she was left powerless in stopping O’Gorman’s effort. The strike moved O’Gorman to the top of the league’s scoring charts, the former Ireland international netting 11 goals in 17 games.  

The right flank proved to be Shels’ Achilles heel once again on the brink of half-time, as Joy Ralph picked up the ball. Ralph calmly guided her cross towards the back-post, finding the outstretched boot of Alannah McEvoy who added Shels’ third of the game.   

Rovers looked comfortable in sitting back and whittling the game down as the second half restarted, the tempo of the match often falling flat as the scoreline looked increasingly unlikely to change.  

Letmon went close to grabbing a consolation for her side, latching in on  a sloppy back pass from Shauna Fox. Budden, who was kept unoccupied for practically all of the game, reacted well to get off her line quickly and snuff out Letmon’s chance.

Budden again came up with big stops towards the end of the second half, denying Letmon once more before providing a reactive save to block Rebecca Devereux, Jessica Gargan clearing Devereux’s rebound from the line.

Devereux got her goal in the dying embers of the match, catching the ball on the edge of the D before rocketing her shot into the top-left corner.

Rovers will look to build on their momentum when they travel to the Bowl on Wednesday week, facing a DLR Waves side that has lost all four of their league matches following the World Cup. The Hoops remain nine points shy of Peamount United with a game in hand.

Shelbourne get no better opportunity to rebound from tonight’s disappointment, welcoming Sligo Rovers-the league’s second bottom team to Tolka Park in ten days.