Rovers blaze a trail in Europe with a convincing win

Shamrock Rovers made history at Tallaght Stadium as they marched into the knock-out stages of the UEFA Conference League with a convincing 3-0 victory over FK Borac.

The home side struck early through a Johnny Kenny header in the 12th minute and looked comfortable throughout as they became the first League of Ireland side to reach the post-Christmas phase of European competition.

Goalscorer became provider in the 56th minute as Neil Farrugia doubled the lead before Kenny bagged his brace eight minutes later to make it three and secure the points for the home side.

Almost six weeks out of season and the Hoops got a timely wake-up call in the opening minute as Borac ran right through the middle of the home defence.

Sandi Ogrinec skipped all too easily past Roberto Lopes before feeding forward Stefan Savic, who forced a fine save from Leon Pohls who got a strong right hand on the low shot to the corner.

Rovers gained a modicum of composure in the fourth minute, playing through the middle with Neil Farrugia showing and Kenny also dropping into space to maintain possession.

But it was a rusty Rovers performance in the opening exchanges with Ogrinec bursting forward from midfield at every opportunity and looking a serious threat.

Rovers came alive in the ninth minute with Markus Poom and Josh Honohan combining down the left flank with the latter driving a dangerous ball into box for Farrugia to attack.

Dylan Watts was beginning to pull the strings from midfield as the home side started to take over and the impressive spell of possession would pay dividends as early as the 12th minute.

It was proving all too easy for Rovers who played right through the middle of the park before the play moved out to the left flank; the first cross evaded everyone, however, Darragh Burns was on hand to collect in space beyond the back post and picked out Kenny, who was somehow left all alone in the middle.

The striker was tasked with the easiest of headers just yards from goal and the on-loan Celtic man made no mistake, helping the ball past the keeper to open the scoring and add to his impressive European tally.

The goal put Rovers ahead on the scoresheet, and it led to Stephen Bradley’s side controlling the tempo with the visitors failing to react, and, in fact, opting for a more defensive approach with a line of five sitting deep in a bid to stop Kenny and Farrugia securing space.

In the 25th minute, Gary O’Neill joined in the attack and won a free in a great position just outside the D of the penalty area. Watts stepped up, whipped it over the wall, however, Filip Manojlovic was alert and got across to tip over.

Borac eventually fired another warning shot in the 28th minute as Enver Kulasin raced forward and got the wrong side of Honohan to win a free in from the right; an important defensive header was needed to deal with the dangerous delivery, whipped right on top of the Hoops keeper.

Borac continued to grow into the game and enjoyed a right burst for the final five minutes of the half, and the pressure appeared to take its toll on several Hoops players as the end of season fatigue appeared to be creeping in. But Rovers held firm and took the slender lead into the second half.

It was the visitors who showed first in the second half, looking to make an immediate impact in their quest to restore parity.

However, it was as if Rovers had set a trap for the Bosnian outfit as they sprung out of their own half with a couple of clever passes to send the ever-lively Kenny racing beyond the high line and right in on goal in the 56th minute.

The Sligo man took the ball all the way into the box before unselfishly clipping it square to Farrugia, who had matched his run, and more importantly, remained onside to take advantage of the very early seasonal gift.

Eight minutes later, Aaron Greene was getting ready to come into the fray, however, Kenny had a last act to execute as the visibly jaded centre-forward dug deep into the energy bank to make one last hopeful run forward.

And it was not in vain, as the striker timed his burst perfectly to race clear onto Poom’s hopeful punt forward before showing a deft touch to lift the ball beyond Manojlovic and into the back of the net.

The subs would eventually make their way onto the pitch as Bradley made five changes over the intervening minutes as the game went completely flat, as the visitors appeared to have thrown in the towel with the home side happy to knock it about at will.

And the Hoops almost added a fourth on the stroke of 90 minutes as Greene raced onto a perfect Jack Byrne ball over the top before forcing the keeper to make a fine save from his well-hit strike.

Four added minutes came and went as Borac made a couple of bursts forward in search of a consolation, however, the home goal would remain intact and the flawless Rovers performance perfectly sets up a final foray in the league phase next week at Stamford Bridge to rub shoulders with Chelsea.

Shamrock Rovers: Leon Pohls; Roberto Lopes (capt), Lee Grace, Daniel Cleary; Joshua Honohan (Trevor Clarke 67), Darragh Burns, Gary O’Neill, Markus Poom (Conan Noonan 77), Dylan Watts (Jack Byrne 67); Neil Farrugia (Danny Mandroiu 76), Johnny Kenny (Aaron Greene 67)

FK Borac: Filip Manojlovic; Marko Vukcevic (Damir Hrelja 70), Sebastijan Herera, Bart Meijers Jurich Carolina; Sandi Ogrinec, Srdan Grahovac (capt), Dino Skorup (Nikola Srećković 70); Enver Kulasin, Stefan Savic (Stojkd Vranješ 79), Dorde Despotovic

Referee: Stefan Ebner (AUT)