The Airtricity League Premier Division continued on Friday with Derry City scoring twice from the penalty spot to defeat Waterford in the Ryan McBride Brandywell Stadium while Shamrock Rovers cruised to a comfortable four nil victory over Sligo Rovers in Tallaght Stadium to move ever closer to claiming the League Title.
Jack Byrne, named in Stephen Kenny‘s senior squad this week, had a relatively quiet match but did score an excellent goal. Byrne left the action early with what appeared to be a groin injury, the extent of which is presently unknown. Sligo goalkeeper Ed McGinty, named in Jim Crawford‘s U21 squad, had a mixed evening, being entirely culpable for the first goal but he did make a couple of important saves later in the match. Also in the U21 squad are Liam Scales and Neil Farrugia with Scales being quite prominent for the hosts.
Cork City suffered a two one defeat by visitors St Patrick’s Athletic in Turner’s Cross at 5pm on Saturday afternoon. Later in the evening, neighbours Shelbourne and Bohemian locked horns in Tolka Park where the ‘Gypsies’ emerged as three one victors to consolidate their second place on the League Table. U21 attacker Danny Grant scored all three Bohemian goals.
The remaining contest featuring Dundalk and Finn Harps took place in Oriel Park on Sunday afternoon and ended in a scoreless draw.
There was an early start to Airtricity League Premier Division action this week with Sligo Rovers defeating visitors Derry City with the only goal in the Showgrounds on Tuesday night. The match was brought forward from the 10th October as the ‘Candystripes’ will have a number of players involved in international squads during that week.
P W D L F A G/D Pts
Shamrock Rovers 14 12 2 0 38 7 31 38
Bohemian 14 10 0 4 18 9 9 30
Waterford 14 6 2 6 16 20 -4 20
St Patrick’s Athletic 14 5 4 5 10 11 -1 19
Sligo Rovers 15 6 1 8 15 21 -6 19
Dundalk 12 5 3 4 20 18 2 18
Derry City 13 4 4 6 14 13 1 16
Shelbourne 14 3 4 7 11 18 -7 13
Finn Harps 14 2 5 7 9 20 -11 11
Cork City 13 2 3 8 8 22 -14 9
Match Series 15 in the Airtricity League First Division on Friday evening saw pre-match leaders Drogheda United suffer a shock two nil home defeat by Athlone Town in United Park while Bray Wanderers superseded them at the summit with a three one success over UCD at The Bowl. Down in Ferrycarrig Park visitors Shamrock Rovers II secured a two nil victory over their hosts Wexford to leapfrog them at the bottom of the League Table.
On Saturday evening, Cobh Ramblers went down to a two one defeat by visitors Cabinteely in St Colman’s Park. Longford Town suffered a stunning home defeat by Galway United in Bishopsgate where they took an early two goal lead before collapsing dramatically to concede six goals.
P W D L F A G/D Pts
Bray Wanderers 15 10 2 3 27 12 15 32
Drogheda United 15 9 3 3 32 16 16 30
Longford Town 15 8 2 5 22 20 2 26
Cabinteely 15 8 2 5 21 23 -2 26
UCD 15 7 2 6 33 24 9 23
Galway United 15 6 5 4 22 14 8 23
Cobh Ramblers 15 6 2 7 17 20 -3 20
Athlone Town 15 3 3 9 18 35 -17 12
Shamrock Rovers II 15 3 2 10 18 25 -7 11
Wexford 15 2 3 10 11 32 -21 9