FAI TV<\/a> \/ YouTube<\/p>\nJoey O\u2019Brien\u2019s side came to Tallaght Stadium on the back of a 3-2 Good Friday defeat at home to Dundalk, and they left Tallaght Stadium with a grim sense of d\u00e9j\u00e0 vu.<\/p>\n
A reworked frontline with Will Jarvis through the middle and Ali Coote and Harry Wood either side of him offered a different kind of threat in the final third.<\/p>\n
All three combined to give Shels a first-half lead that would be given up in meek circumstances before the break.<\/p>\n
There would be no way back for the away side, and if ever a moment summed up just where this Shels side are right now, it was the manner in which goalkeeper Wessel Speel fumbled a simple corner kick to allow Graham Burke to pounce.<\/p>\n
It was a milestone goal for the Rovers forward, his 100th for the club, and it came from all of two yards.<\/p>\n
![\"wessel-speel-unable-to-claim-the-ball\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1775541673_366_.jpeg\")
\n Wessel Speel spilled a corner, allowing Graham Burke to tap in Rovers’ third. James Crombie \/ INPHO<\/p>\n
James Crombie \/ INPHO \/ INPHO\n<\/p>\n
O\u2019Brien cajoled his side throughout the second half, offering encouragement and advice. But there were also times when all he could do was watch forlornly with his hands in his pockets.<\/p>\n
Jack Henry-Francis struck with a little over 10 minutes remaining to make it a nervy conclusion, but there was no further drama and the side whose three wins this season have all come on the road returned north of the river with nothing.<\/p>\n
Misplaced passes, unorganised defences and lapses in concentration were all ruthlessly punished.<\/p>\n
Shels had looked in control and comfortable since taking the lead just after the half hour. The 3-2 defeat to Dundalk on Good Friday was out of their system, it seemed, and not just because they were able to make five changes to their starting XI.<\/p>\n
Jack Byrne\u2019s pass to Cory O\u2019Sullivan was fractionally behind the Rovers defender and his attempt to play the ball back to Matt Healy was short.<\/p>\n
Jarvis stole possession, cruised into the box and teed up Wood 12 yards from goal. His first-time shot was excellently saved by Ed McGinty but Coote was following in from the left to convert the rebound.<\/p>\n
It was an emphatic example of the threat posed by a front three that did not require a natural striker as its focal point.<\/p>\n
![\"michael-noonan-celebrates-with-victor-ozhianvuna-after-he-scored-his-sides-second-goal\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1775541674_228_.jpeg\")
\n Michael Noonan and Victor Ozhianvuna celebrate after Noonan’s goal put Rovers 2-1 up. James Crombie \/ INPHO<\/p>\n
James Crombie \/ INPHO \/ INPHO\n<\/p>\n
Rovers, like Shels, had also drafted in five fresh faces after their 1-1 draw away to Waterford, but it was two very familiar ones who combined to bring them level on 44 minutes.<\/p>\n
A carless Kerr McInroy foul gifted the Hoops the chance to get bodies in the box before the break. Byrne\u2019s free from just left of centre was dinked with a purpose. Somehow, Pico Lopes was left completely unmarked coming in at the back, and he cushioned the ball off the post and in for his third goal of the season.<\/p>\n
Seconds later and his hopeful clearance was misjudged by Zeno Ibsen Rossi. The Shels defender got his feet mixed up, the ball sprung away from him into the path of Michael Noonan and the teenager was onto it in a flash to finish neatly under the body of Speel.<\/p>\n
Shels were the masters of their own downfall and the manner of what proved to be the decisive third Roves goal will sting even more.<\/p>\n
Byrne\u2019s corner kick was clipped into the six-yard box, and it looked to be an easy claim for the goalkeeper. Instead, he let the ball squirm from his clutches under no pressure and Burke was there to knock in the easiest of goals.<\/p>\n
There were 57 minutes on the clock and, in truth, Shels looked beaten. Both sides made a raft of changes but it did little to change the dynamic of the contest.<\/p>\n
![\"stephen-bradley-celebrates-after-the-game\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1775541674_427_.jpeg\")
\n Rovers boss Stephen Bradley celebrates a Ringsend derby win. James Crombie \/ INPHO<\/p>\n
James Crombie \/ INPHO \/ INPHO\n<\/p>\n
It took a rasper of an effort from Jack Henry-Francis to do that with 12 minutes of normal time remaining. The midfielder started on the right side of a three-man midfield but by the time he struck a sweet low effort from 20 yards to beat McGinty he was operating in a more central area.<\/p>\n
That is where he does his best work and, all of a sudden, Shels had a second wind to try and muster a point. Speel was sent forward to a free kick in the dying moments but it came to nothing and, despite the weekend that\u2019s in it, there was no resurrection.<\/p>\n
Shamrock Rovers: Ed McGinty; Tunmise Sobowale, Pico Lopes (captain), Cory O\u2019Sullivan; Jake Mulraney (Adam Matthews 72), Jack Byrne (John O\u2019Sullivan 57), Matt Healy, Victor Ozhianvuna (Naz Razi 80), Maleace Asamoah (Danny Grant 57); Graham Burke (Aaron Greene 80), Michael Noonan.<\/p>\n
Shelbourne: Wessel Speel; Sean Gannon (James Roche 76), Zeno Ibsen Rossi, Kameron Ledwidge, James Norris (Rodrigo Freitas 64); Kerr McInroy (captain) (Daniel Kelly 76), JJ Lunney, Jack Henry-Francis; Ali Coote (Maill Lundgren HT), Will Jarvis (John Martin 64), Harry Wood.<\/p>\n
Referee: Kevin O\u2019Sullivan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"David Sneyd reports from Tallaght Stadium Shamrock Rovers 3 Shelbourne 2 FROM A POSITION of power and control,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":385859,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[61,60,2539,32808,147366,11113,25201,3405,112],"class_list":{"0":"post-385858","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-ie","9":"tag-ireland","10":"tag-league-of-ireland","11":"tag-loi","12":"tag-loi2026","13":"tag-shamrock-rovers","14":"tag-shelbourne","15":"tag-soccer","16":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/385858","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=385858"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/385858\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/385859"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=385858"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=385858"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=385858"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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<\/p>\n