Shamrock Rovers 3-0 UCD
The Hoops' four in a row train has left the station and is gathering momentum.
They endured a pedestrian start to the season but Shamrock Rovers recorded their third win of the season on Monday night to move into third place in the Premier Division table.
After victories over Dundalk and early pace-setters Bohemians, Stephen Bradley's side were expected to add UCD to their list of scalps and did so with the minimum of fuss in front of the 4,102 attendance at Tallaght Stadium.
The hard working but understrength Students, with Jake Doyle ploughing a lone furrow up front for most of the game, couldn't prevent wave after wave of Rovers attacks.
Graham Burke helped himself to his fourth and fifth goals of the campaign with less than half an hour played - then somehow missed a golden hat-trick chance moments before he was called ashore midway through the second half.
Rovers were dominant but there was a carelessness to their play at times.
Jack Byrne, their main creative force, mixed some wayward passing mixed with more incisive work - but Byrne did get to celebrate a goal with a fortunate 58th minute effort.
Still, Bradley will want to see a tighter, more ruthless Rovers against Shels in Tallaght on Friday.
However his players were almost always in cruise control and he was able to bring Byrne, Burke and Markus Poom off midway through the second half with the derby clash in mind.
The early fare was epitomised by Dylan Watts' wild cross wide after Sean Hoare's accurate long pass to Rory Gaffney had UCD in trouble. Seconds later, Gaffney's over-ambitious effort sailed harmlessly wide.
There was more promise shown from an attack down the left when Byrne threaded the ball through to Trevor Clarke, though his pull-back was easily dealt with.
UCD had to rely on swift counter-attack and had a couple of sniffs at goal in the first half, with Colin Bolton pouncing on Darragh Nugent's mistake but his shot was blocked.
At the other end, Byrne again released Clarke but his poor effort hit the side-netting.
Pressure was constantly building on the visitors. Hoare won a corner with a deflected shot and Roberto Lopes headed wide from it.
But the breakthrough came in the 21st minute with a slick move as Byrne found Gaffney and his low centre was perfect for Clarke to sweep home.
Gaffney then saw a powerful low shot well saved by Kian Moore but Burke doubled the lead in the 25th minute.UCD failed to clear the resulting corner and the striker buried the loose ball.
Andy Myler's young side got a bit more joy as the interval approached and Daniel Norris' shot forced Alan Mannus into a near post save.
But if half-time brought some respite for the Belfield side, their opponents turned the screw from the restart. Burke's turn and backheel was almost matched by Gaffney's backheel towards goal, but it was blocked out.
From a corner soon after, Lopes' downward header was well saved by Moore at his near post.
From a corner, Lopes' downward header was well saved by Moore.
But Rovers finally scored their third when Byrne's speculative, rising effort could only be palmed into his own net by Moore. The hosts hunted a fourth, but their rivals kept them at bay.
Shamrock Rovers: Alan Mannus, Darragh Nugent, Sean Hoare, Roberto Lopes, Lee Grace, Trevor Clarke, Markus Poom (Johnny Kenny 62), Jack Byrne Neil Farrugia 62), Dylan Watts (Justin Ferizaj 68), Graham Burke (Conan Noonan 68), Rory Gaffney (Sean Gannon 82).
Subs not used: Leon Pohls, Dan Cleary, Sean Kavanagh, Gary O’Neill.
UCD: Kian Moore, Daniel Norris (Daniel McCarthy 73) , Luke O’Regan, Jack Keaney, Dara Keane, Jesse Dempsey, Sam Clarke (Harry O'Connor 62), Brendan Barr, Ciaran Behan, Colin Bolton (Alex Nolan 55), Jake Doyle (Divine Izekor 73).
Subs not used: Donal Higgins, Sam Healy, Harvey O’Brien, Kyle Donoghue.
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