A late penalty in the 92nd minute from Pat Hoban ensured a draw for Derry City against Shamrock Rovers in the Premier Division of the League of Ireland. This highly contested decision by referee Damien McGraith, following a challenge on Patrick McEleney by Josh Honohan, caused uproar amongst Shamrock Rovers’ players. However, Hoban confidently drove the penalty home to equalise scores and elated the Brandywell crowd.
Derry City’s late equaliser was shrouded in controversy, however, the felt it was a much-deserved piece of good luck against Rovers this season. Throughout a match with very few straightforward opportunities, Rovers took the lead in the first half. Despite Dubliners’ attempts to control the game in the second half, Derry surprisingly levelled the score at the last minute.
More importantly, this draw takes Derry a step closer to catching up with Shelbourne, as they now trail by only three points with six matches left. For Stephen Bradley’s team, the draw keeps them in contention for the title; however, challenging home games against Bohemians and St. Pat’s loom ahead.
Meanwhile, Derry launched a successful assault on Shelbourne’s position, which faltered with a loss to Galway United at Eamonn Deacy Park. The opener for Rovers came in the 26th minute when Johnny Kenny launched an aerial ball that was swiftly converted by Dylan Watts into a splendid goal. Derry closely missed the chance to level the scores in the 38th minute when a corner met by defender Mark Connolly failed to reach the target. Despite the near miss, Derry continued their aggressive push forward.
As the first half was drawing to a close, the final move found the Candystripes in a fortunate stretch to level the score as Jack Byrne made a risky manoeuvre to work the ball from defence. Derry’s rear-guard player, Ronan Boyce, succeeded in obtaining control of the ball and promptly fed it forward to Michael Duffy who, rather annoyingly for the home fans, skied the ball wide of net’s framework.
During the initial stages of the second half, Danny Mullen seized the chance to score a long-range goal, but his formidable strike was ably handled by Pohls. A brilliant slide tackle by Coll in the 57th minute saved Derry City from trouble, stopping Kenny since Rovers seemed to be gaining assurance while proving to be lethal on counter-attacks.
Connolly found himself scoring minutes later, although his joy was shortlived as the referees concluded he had been offside. An appeal for a penalty that ensued later was dismissed by the umpire, Damien MacGriath. In a turn of events, with two minutes into the additional time, Patrick Hoban who had come in as a substitution capitalised on the situation, with Mr. MacGriath having a change of view.
Derry City line-up was Maher; Boyce, Connolly, Wisdom, Coll (subbed for Robertson, 80); Diallo (replaced by Hoban, 65), O’Reilly; McMullan (replaced by McEleney, 65), Patching (replaced by Patching, 80), Duffy; Mullen (replaced by Whelan, 80).
Shamrock Rovers: Phols; Cleary, Lopes, Grace; Farrugia, O’Neill, Watts, Honohan; Byrne (subbed for Burke, 65), Mandroiu (subbed for Nugent, 86); Kenny (subbed for McNulty, 75).
Umpire of the match: Mr D. MacGriath (hometown Mayo).
Other matches of the evening resulted in – Bohemians 0 vs Drogheda United 1; Galway United 1 vs Shelbourne 0; St. Patrick’s Athletic 3 vs Waterford United 0.