Stephen Bradley<\/a> also made two changes from their Dublin derby win over Bohemians, replacing Aaron Greene and Enda Stevens with Graham Burke and Danny Grant as the Hoops went in search of a fourth win on the bounce.<\/p>\nDerry started brightly but couldn\u2019t capitalise on two well positioned free-kicks from wide on the left side. <\/p>\n
Rovers almost broke the deadlock at six minutes when Byrne picked out Greene\u2019s run into the box with a searching pass from deep but the striker directed his shot wide of the far post.<\/p>\n
Former Rovers fullback Barry Cotter skilfully skipped past two defenders in the middle of the park but his eventual strike on goal from 20 yards failed to trouble Ed McGinty.<\/p>\n
John O\u2019Sullivan rattled a stunning volley off the Derry crossbar from 30 yards in the 21st minute.<\/p>\n
Derry scored first in the 26th minute from a corner kick that broke toward the back post. Fleming miskicked his effort and Patrick McClean got his toe to it as it bobbled towards the back post where Clarke gleefully fired into the bottom corner, writing his name in the history books as the first Derry player to score at Celtic Park. It was the Meath man\u2019s third goal in his last five matches.<\/p>\n
Clarke brilliantly drifted behind the Rovers defence and pulled the ball back to Thomas but Jake Mulreany blocked his first-time strike inside the six-yard box. <\/p>\n
Derry finished the half strongest and from Fleming\u2019s inswinging free-kick Thomas flicked it on and Clarke\u2019s close range header went over the crossbar.<\/p>\n
Thomas was brought down 20 yards from the Rovers\u2019 goal seven minutes into the second half by Tunmise Sobowale. O\u2019Reilly\u2019s curling free-kick appeared destined for the back of the net but somehow McGinty produced a stunning save, turning it away from under the crossbar. <\/p>\n
![\"Derry’s](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/4DOARSAFOLOKL2FSYFILSDSENU.jpg\")
Derry\u2019s James Olayinka in action against Shamrock Rovers\u2019 Jake Mulraney. Photograph: Lorcan Doherty\/Inpho <\/p>\n
Derry came close once again on the hour mark when Cotter crossed deep toward Clarke at the back post but his header deflected off Cleary and went behind for a corner.<\/p>\n
Greene turned well on to his left foot 25 yards from the Derry goal with 10 minutes remaining but fired high and wide as Rovers continued to be frustrated.<\/p>\n
Seven minutes of stoppage time were signalled, and Beach smartly turned behind Graham Burke\u2019s strike from a narrow angle after a quick throw-in.<\/p>\n
Lopes headed narrowly over the crossbar in the dying seconds of the match as Cleary flicked on Burke\u2019s cross. <\/p>\n
At the other end Derry sub Henry Rylah tried his luck from just outside the box but McGinty saved comfortably. <\/p>\n
There was a scramble in a packed Derry goalmouth as the clock ticked down but the home side defended resolutely, celebrating back-to-back wins and a memorable night at their adopted home.<\/p>\n
DERRY CITY: Beach; Cotter (Barr 83), Stott, McClean, Fleming (Doherty 76); Olayinka (Akinyemi 65), O\u2019Reilly, Winchester; Markey, Clarke; Thomas (Rylah 83).<\/p>\n
SHAMROCK ROVERS: McGinty; Stevens (McGovern 76), Lopes, Sobowale (Cleary 59), C O\u2019Sullivan (Asamoah 59), J O\u2019Sullivan (Burke 60), Byrne, Ozhianvuna, Mulraney (Brennan 60) Greene, Noonan.<\/p>\n
Referee: Neil Doyle (Dublin).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Premier Division: Derry City 1 (Clarke 26) Shamrock Rovers 0 James Clarke wrote his name into Derry City\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":549481,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[19525,49,21000,50,44782,51,47,52,48],"class_list":{"0":"post-549480","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-derry-city","9":"tag-headlines","10":"tag-league-of-ireland","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-shamrock-rovers","13":"tag-top-news","14":"tag-top-stories","15":"tag-topnews","16":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/549480","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=549480"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/549480\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/549481"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=549480"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=549480"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=549480"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Derry](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/37BQQVF5YMN6YPHM723G65PS4M.jpg\")
Derry City and Shamrock Rovers take to the field ahead of kick-off at Celtic Park. Photograph: Lorcan Doherty\/Inpho <\/p>\n![\"Shamrock](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/QKMNEO54ONZVUSXWSRCFWFJW6U.jpg\")
Shamrock Rovers manager Stephen Bradley ahead of the game. Photograph: Lorcan Doherty\/Inpho <\/p>\n