{"id":609525,"date":"2026-08-30T20:06:10","date_gmt":"2026-08-30T20:06:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/609525\/"},"modified":"2026-08-30T20:06:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-30T20:06:10","slug":"hoops-come-from-behind-to-salvage-point-in-derry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/609525\/","title":{"rendered":"Hoops come from behind to salvage point in Derry"},"content":{"rendered":"

Two goals in eight second half minutes saw Shamrock Rovers come back from the dead to take a point at the Brandywell.<\/p>\n

Just days after exiting Europe, Rovers showed their fighting spirit yet again, with Stephen Bradley’s second half substitutions – particularly William Fitzgerald and Dylan Watts – proving that they remain the standard in the league.<\/p>\n

It was at least a better showing from Mark Connolly’s players than last week\u2019s second half collapse against Bohemians, but City have now wasted half-time leads in their last two games, taking just one point in the process.<\/p>\n

The most notable chance from the City team which lost to Bohemians last week was in goal, as Reading loanee Tom Norcott came in for his debut in place of Brian Maher, who was only fit enough to make the substitutes\u2019 bench.<\/p>\n

Derry City wasted no time in opening the scoring when Ellis Chapman won the ball from Lee Grace and immediately fed Michael Duffy, who raced into the area from the left and pulled it back for Chapman to sweep in his fourth goal for the club. The goal was timed at 81 seconds, City\u2019s quickest goal of the season.<\/p>\n

\"30
\nMichael Duffy celebrates after putting Derry City in front<\/p>\n

The lead was doubled when John O\u2019Sullivan lost possession too easily, eased off the ball 25 yards from goal by Chapman, and Darragh Burns took over, slipping the ball in behind for Duffy, who fired the ball past Ed McGinty for his fourth goal in three games.<\/p>\n

Rovers at least responded well and they pulled a goal back with their first real attack on 27 minutes, Graham Burke\u2019s low cross finding Michael Noonan unmarked in the area, and he hooked a left-footed shot past debutant goalkeeper Norcott to halve the deficit.<\/p>\n

The visitors didn\u2019t get any chance to build momentum from that as Derry restored their two-goal lead just five minutes later. Again, the problems came down the left side for the visitors with Duffy again the architect as he found Chapman, who took a touch before directing a precision shot into the bottom corner beyond the reach of McGinty.<\/p>\n

PREMIER DIVISION TABLE<\/p>\n

\"PREMIER<\/p>\n

The home side could have killed the game off 12 minutes into the second half when O\u2019Reilly burst powerfully through the centre of the pitch and played Tyler Smith in on goal. The striker delayed his finish however, and that hesitation allowed Corey O\u2019Sullivan to get a vital touch to take the ball off his toe and send it behind for a corner.<\/p>\n

The game took another twist on 72 minutes when Rovers substitute Fitzgerald whipped in a cross from the left and Burke arrived with a bullet header from close range to give his team hope yet again.<\/p>\n

Bradley\u2019s substitutions worked wonders for his team, as they drew level with 10 minutes remaining. Again Fitzgerald was involved as his cross caused chaos in the City area, and the ball eventually fell for Dylan Watts, who lashed the ball into the net just seconds after coming onto the pitch.<\/p>\n

Both teams had chances to win it in added time as Fitzgerald threw himself at Watts\u2019 cross with a diving header which was brilliantly pushed away by Norcott, before Ed McGinty denied young striker Michael McColgan with the last chance of the game.<\/p>\n

Derry City: Thomas Norcott, Patrick McClean, Jamie Stott, Brandon Fleming, Conor Barr, Adam O\u2019Reilly, Nick Twisk (Cameron Dummigan 79\u2019), Darragh Burns (Barry Cotter 79\u2019), Ellis Chapman (James Olayinka 64\u2019), Michael Duffy, Tyler Smith (Michael McColgan 90\u2019).<\/p>\n

Shamrock Rovers: Ed McGinty, Adam Matthews (Jake Mulraney 69\u2019 (Daniel Cleary 86\u2019), Lee Grace, Matthew Healy, Adam Brennan (John McGovern 79\u2019), Oluntunmise Sobowale, John (William Fitzgerald 69\u2019), Corey O\u2019Sullivan, Jack (Dylan Watt 79\u2019) , Graham Burke, Michael Noonan.<\/p>\n

Referee: Paul Norton.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Two goals in eight second half minutes saw Shamrock Rovers come back from the dead to take a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":609526,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[61,60,112],"class_list":["post-609525","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/609525","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=609525"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/609525\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/609526"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=609525"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=609525"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=609525"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}