Shamrock Rovers earn another victory against faltering Shelbourne

Shamrock Rovers moved to within two points of leaders Shelbourne in another twist to the Premier Division title race at Tallaght Stadium.

Smart finishes from Jack Byrne and Neil Farrugia in either half have reignited Rovers' drive for five as they eventually shook off a depleted yet stubborn Shelbourne side who have won just once in ten league games.

The big winners could be Derry City who have been handed the initiative at four points behind Shels with two games in hand.

Shelbourne, on their knees in terms of form and personnel, were running on empty while Rovers had Byrne, Farrugia, Dylan Watts and Graham Burke on the field in the second half.

John O’Sullivan and Sean Ganon formed a vulnerable half of a makeshift back four and Rovers ran riot.

This was very much the Byrne show with the former Ireland international pulling over to the left hand side with Farrugia to form a two pronged attack that O’Sullivan and Gannon were powerless to stop.

There was an inevitability to the Rovers opener as Farrugia slipped by O’Sullivan and his low cross was met by Byrne who darted across Gannon at the near post and turned home after 18 minutes.

It was an onslaught of Hoops pressure from there with the hosts forcing numerous set piece opportunities before a slack clearance from Mark Coyle presented Dylan Watts with a shooting chance but he struck straight at Conor Kearns.

Shelbourne managed to stem the Rovers flow and saw some green shoots on the counter attack including when Ali Coote nodded a long ball down to Sean Boyd whose first time strike on the run was magnificently tipped around the post by Leon Pohls.

Improvisation from Graham Burke and Neil Farrugia does the rest

SHA 2-0 SHE