Rovers hoping for improved European showing at home to Molde

Three days can be a long time in football; even longer if you are trying to juggle a three-in-a-row title race with the group stages of European competition.

With four games to go in the ongoing SSE Airtricity League Premier Division title race, Shamrock Rovers are in prime position to make it three titles on the bounce, five points clear with four games remaining.

But Derry City are making the Hoops work for their silverware, as they once again heaped the pressure on Stephen Bradley's side by narrowing the gap to two points with their sixth league win in succession, beating Finn Harps 3-0 on Friday night.

At the same time, the Hoops were licking their wounds after getting outplayed and comprehensively beaten 3-0 by Norwegian league leaders Molde on Thursday night.

A significant low in a season of highs for the Hoops, where team selection became a real topic of discussion as Bradley opted to leave Jack Byrne, Graham Burke and Rory Gaffney on the bench.

Talk of qualification to the knock-out stages of the Europa Conference League ahead of that game against Molde, the remaining games might now bring about a modicum of damage limitation at the end of an exhausting season.

Things looked like they were going from bad to worse for Rovers by the time they regrouped for their league game with Shelbourne on Sunday, as Bradley’s side went behind, not once, but twice, and entered the final ten minutes at a windswept Tallaght Stadium staring defeat firmly in the face.

Daniel Cleary’s equaliser in the 86th minute was certainly a vital step to steady the ship for the Hoops, however, the best was yet to come as Rovers won it with virtually the last kick of the game.

The aforementioned trio were still going strong when that potentially