Spain knocking France out of the World Cup<\/a>. And any concern that Uefa technology would overshadow this gorgeous summer\u2019s evening in Tallaght was dismissed by Burke and Byrne both going close with spectacular efforts.<\/p>\nThe Republic of Ireland internationals would eventually come good, but it was Rovers\u2019 aerial dominance that made the difference as Watts scored from Brennan\u2019s cross in the 29th minute to make it 2-1.<\/p>\n
Byrne had another chance before the break that seemed destined for the top corner until Cioletti tipped the ball for another corner.<\/p>\n
By half-time, with Rovers trailing 3-2 on aggregate, it was confirmed that the loser\u2019s opposition in the Conference League qualifier would be Drita from Kosovo.<\/p>\n
Bradley\u2019s men were still gunning for a place in the next round of the Champions League against Ararat. And three minutes into the second half, McGovern levelled the tie after clever play by Burke and Dylan Watts.<\/p>\n
It would have been a rout by the hour mark only for Floriana\u2019s Brazilian goalkeeper. Cioletti seemed unbeatable as he parried shots from McGovern and Byrne in rapid succession.<\/p>\n
Burke proved the point of difference. The number 10 never seems to be sprinting or jogging. He levitates above the grass. After poking the fourth goal to make it 4-3 on aggregate his gliding stride slowed to high five the ball girl.<\/p>\n
Not to be upstaged, Byrne readjusted his sights to whip a stunner into the Floriana nets with 16 minutes remaining.<\/p>\n
That allowed Bradley to run his bench as Michael Noonan and Naj Razi arrived to remind everyone about the coming generation.<\/p>\n
Shamrock Rovers: McGinty; Grace, Lopes, O\u2019Sullivan; Mulraney (Sobowale 65), Watts (Razi 77), O\u2019Reilly-O\u2019Sullivan, Byrne, Brennan; McGovern (Noonan 77), Burke (Afolabi 77). <\/p>\n
Floriana: Cioletti; Lonardelli, Spiteri, Kauan, Beerman; Muric (Dervisagic 52), Romano (Vella 64), Kurtalic, Varela; Jan, Gudelj (N\u2019dri 71). <\/p>\n
Referee: Joakim Ostling (Sweden).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Champions League 1st qualifying round, 2nd leg: Shamrock Rovers 5 (Grace 7, Watts 29, McGovern 48, Burke 61,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":550541,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[15013,61,60,51962,11113,112],"class_list":["post-550540","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-champions-league","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-pico-lopes","tag-shamrock-rovers","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/550540","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=550540"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/550540\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/550541"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=550540"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=550540"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=550540"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Shamrock](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/QWM43P35NRQBHW2UH5ZG63GNM4.jpg\")
Shamrock Rovers’ Roberto Lopes signs a Cape Verde jersey. Photograph: James Crombie\/Inpho <\/p>\n