Ryan McBride got the winning goal for Derry against Shamrock Rovers
DERRY City held out for a narrow 1-0 win over Shamrock Rovers despite going down to ten men.
The win pushes the Candy Stripes up into third in the table after skipper Ryan McBride got the only goal with a 67th minute volley as the visitors battled to an impressive win.
It was only Derry’s second match as the opening home game last Friday night at their temporary base at Maginn Park in Buncrana was abandoned because the floodlights failed.
The Candystripes have now won four of their last five matches against the Hoops.
Derry made a bright start as Barry McNamee’s shot from the edge of the area forced a good save from Rovers’ keeper Tomer Chencinski in the opening minute.
The home side recovered from that shaky start and gradually began to dominate possession but City keeper Gerard Doherty was barely troubled during the opening period and Brandon Miele’s weak free-kick was the only time he was forced into a save.
Instead, Derry finished the half with another chance when Harry Monaghan got on the end of Nicky Low’s cross but his header from eight yards out drifted just wide.
The visitors also made a strong start to the second half as a shot from Ronan Curtis was deflected narrowly wide and the winger was unable to hit the target from the resulting corner.
The breakthrough came midway through the second half when McBride pounced on a loose ball.
Aaron McEneff’s corner broke to the defender and his volley from six yards out found the bottom corner.
But Derry were reduced to 10 men just minutes later as full-back Lukas Schubert was shown a second yellow card for kicking the ball away.
The Hoops pushed forward in search of an equaliser and the closest they came was in the 83rd minute when Darren Meenan was left unmarked at the back post but couldn’t steer his header on target.
The defeat leaves Rovers with just one win from their opening three games and already six points adrift of leaders Cork City.
Derry manager Kenny Shields will have to prepare his players for a quick turnaround as they host defending champions Dundalk in Buncrana on Monday.
Tags: