{"id":592635,"date":"2026-08-14T03:02:11","date_gmt":"2026-08-14T03:02:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/592635\/"},"modified":"2026-08-14T03:02:11","modified_gmt":"2026-08-14T03:02:11","slug":"humiliation-for-rovers-as-egnatia-hit-hoops-for-five","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/592635\/","title":{"rendered":"Humiliation for Rovers as Egnatia hit Hoops for five"},"content":{"rendered":"

A disastrous first-half performance saw Shamrock Rovers crash out of the Europa League in spectacular fashion as they lost 5-1, and 6-4 on aggregate, to Egnatia in Albania.<\/p>\n

The home side raced into a three-goal lead within 20 minutes through Daniel Adjessa, Alessandro Albanese and Ildi Gruda.<\/p>\n

Adjessa added a second shortly before the break before Edison Ndreca bizarrely found himself sent off for a second yellow card in first-half injury time.<\/p>\n

In spite of their numerical disadvantage, Egnatia made it five just before the hour as Albanese doubled his tally and extended their aggregate lead to three goals.<\/p>\n

Graham Burke, who became Ireland’s top European goalscorer in the 3-1 first-leg win, pulled one back late but it was a feeble recovery from a shell-shocked Hoops outfit.<\/p>\n

That means the Irish champions will face another tie with Finnish\/Lappish side KuPS next week.<\/p>\n

The warning signs were clear early on as Jake Mulraney was forced to step into midfield to break up an attack initiated by Ndreca inside the second minute.<\/p>\n

\"13
\nA clash with KuPS now awaits Stephen Bradley<\/p>\n

Those signs were not heeded as, two minutes later, Adjessa picked up the ball on the edge of the box and curled the ball neatly into the roof of the net past Ed McGinty.<\/p>\n

McGinty was in action minutes later as Egnatia broke with pace and Albanese found Gruda but this time the Ireland Under-21 keeper was able to get his hands behind the shot.<\/p>\n

A bad pass from Roberto ‘Pico\u2019 Lopes saw Karim Loukili get a sight of goal but, again, McGinty was equal to a snapshot from 30 yards.<\/p>\n

There was only so much the former Sligo Rovers stopper could do as the home team doubled their lead after Albanese was inexplicably left unmarked from a cross and stabbed home.<\/p>\n

It got worse on the 20-minute mark as a mix-up between Lopes and McGinty saw Gruda nip and round the keeper for a simple finish.<\/p>\n

Rovers had sparse chances, though Aaron Greene did hit the side-netting following good work from Burke, but it got even worse for them six minutes from the break.<\/p>\n

Rovers gave away a needless throw close to their own 18-yard box and it was quickly taken and worked in the box for Adjessa to smash home and make it four.<\/p>\n

\"13
\nShamrock Rovers players applaud the travelling support after the game<\/p>\n

The visitors got a lifeline in injury time as Ndreca received a needless second yellow card for a foul on Burke and was given his marching orders.<\/p>\n

That did not stop Egnatia making it five within three minutes of the resumption as Albanese was played in and chipped McGinty for his second of the game.<\/p>\n

Rovers pulled one back as sub Danny Mandroiu did brilliantly to swivel on a ball from fellow introduction Jonny Afolabi and hit the bar before Burke turned the loose ball home.<\/p>\n

It was to prove futile, however, as ten-man Egnatia continued to dominate and Albanese went close to sealing his hat-trick in a dour finish for Bradley\u2019s men.<\/p>\n

Egnatia: Mario Dajsnini; Guillem Jaime (Geralb Smajli, 80), Elon Sota, Enio Bitri, Edison Ndrec; Albano Aleksi, Karim Loukilii (Altin Kryeziu, 69), Fernando, Alessandro Albenese; Daniel Adjessa (Jurguens Montenegro, 69), Ildi Gruda (Zomig Aliyev, 46).<\/p>\n

Shamrock Rovers: Ed McGinty; Tunmise Sobowale (Lee Grace, 46), Pico, Enda Stevens (Danny Mandroiu, 70); Jake Mulraney (Maleace Asamoah, 64), Dylan Watts, Matt Healy, Jack Byrne, Will Fitzgerald; Graham Burke, Aaron Greene (Jonny Afolabi, 46).<\/p>\n

Referee: Georgi Kabakov (Bulgaria).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A disastrous first-half performance saw Shamrock Rovers crash out of the Europa League in spectacular fashion as they…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":592636,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-592635","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/592635","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=592635"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/592635\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/592636"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=592635"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=592635"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=592635"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}