SHAMROCK ROVERS 3 BOHEMIANS 0
They’ve a habit of finding their groove when it matters and by stretching their lead to seven points, champions Shamrock Rovers crushed the outside title prospects of their traditional rivals.
Early league pacesetters Bohemians are now 10 points adrift with seven games remaining. A late defeat for St Patrick’s Athletic at Shelbourne means the only team threatening the Hoops’ march to a famous four-in-a-row is Derry City.
Should Derry win their game in hand at UCD next Wednesday, plus repeat the trick against Rovers on September 16, they’ll rise to within a point of Rovers.
Only victory would do before 7,816 fans at Tallaght – the second-largest across the league this season – but they were resoundingly beaten. The FAI Cup might be their best route for a return to Europe.
Goals either side of the break from Lee Grace and Ronan Finn generated the platform and the returning Neil Farrugia curled a sweet third with his first touch after making his return from seven weeks out injured.
The choice of Rob Hennessey to referee the match was a curious pre-match plotline. He was at the hub of the last game between the Dublin rivals in May by denying Bohs the clearest of penalties when he failed to see a foul against Daniel Cleary for impeding Jonathan Afolabi. Had the decision been awarded with 12 minutes left, Bohs would probably have equalised. Instead they suffered a double whammy as Rovers soon added a second by Rory Gaffney planting home a close-range header.
There would be no pivotal call to complain about this time, nobody for the Gypsies to blame except themselves.
The only repeat incident involving the previous protagonists was approaching the break with the game scoreless but Cleary
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