Two red cards as Derry City hold Shamrock Rovers in Dublin

Shamrock Rovers 0

Derry City 0

It was a tale of two red cards at Tallaght as Derry City held Shamrock Rovers to a forgettable scoreless draw.

The first scoreless draw between the teams in Dublin for 21 years, referee Paul McLaughlin earned all the attention as he red-carded Shamrock Rovers goalkeeper Ed McGinty before dismissing Derry City striker Danny Mullen before half-time.

The red cards had a detrimental effect on the game with neither side able to rouse themselves thereafter with the game drifting by uneventfully towards a forgettable draw.

City boss Tiernan Lynch would possible have taken the draw beforehand, especially considering the Candystripes’ poor record of just one win in their last 13 visits to Tallaght, but he will surely feel aggrieved at the missed opportunity denied his team, with the decision to award Mullen a second yellow card harsh to say the least.

A decent start from Derry City almost resulted in a goal on 12 minutes, but only due to a mistake from Ed McGinty. The Rovers goalkeeper came to collect a cross from Michael Duffy, but the ball spilled through his hands, and Danny Mullen so nearly made him pay for it, but he could only find the side netting with his instinctive finish from a tight angle.

The game took a huge turn in Derry’s favour midway through the half when Rovers were reduced to ten men. Paul McMullan’s through ball sent Mullen racing towards the penalty area, but McGinty got to the ball first, sliding outside the area as he did so. Referee Paul McLaughlin adjudged that the goalkeeper had used his hand outside the area to control the ball and produced a red card.

McLaughlin then red carded Mullen as both teams ended the half with ten men. Mullen, already cautioned, chased down Aaron Greene after losing the ball, but the Rovers man fell to the ground and the official decided it was worthy of a second yellow card.

There was little in the way of actual goalmouth action in the first half, but that quickly changed after the break as Michael Duffy brought out the first significant save of the game, his dipping free kick from 20 yards forcing Pohls into a good stop, low to his right.

That was not a sign of things to come however, as neither team seemed to have the energy to change the meandering pace of this game, the red cards clearly having their effects on both sets of players.

Rovers instead put their faith in a string of corner kicks as the game entered the final 20 minutes and Roberto Lopes was just inches from connecting with a downward header from Sean Cleary in a packed penalty area, as Rovers came close for the only time in the game.

Teams

Shamrock Rovers: McGinty, Lopes, Cleary, Honohan, O’Sullivan, McEneff (Pohls 25’), Watts (Noonan 86’), Grant (Byrne HT’), Healy, Burke (Ozhianvuna 86’), Greene (Gaffney 58’).

Derry City: Maher, R Boyce, Connolly (Patton HT’), Holt, Cann, Doherty (Todd 58’) O’Reilly, Winchester (Benson 76’), McMullan (L Boyce HT’), Duffy, Mullen.

Referee: Paul McLaughlin