Tallaght Friday, June 1st, 2018 k/o 20:00   League of Ireland Attendance: 2,799         Shamrock Rovers 2-5 Dundalk
2017 /18

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Originally booked a week off work to take in a rock concert in Dublin but I had a change of mind and decided to do another ground instead taking my mate tony with me too however having booked the ferry chanced upon the fact that 24hours later EIRE would be hosting the USA in an international friendly so our plans had to be altered to accommodate a stay over. Our deal know extended to a 36 hour stay to meet the ticket criteria we would have to depart on the later sailing of 14.00 which left little room for error. The connecting bus got us to Heuston station were we jumped on the luas out to Tallaght about 40 mins to the South West of the city. Shamrocks ground is two sided but they''ve just begun constructing a new stand behind one goal and tony was highly complimentary of all the staff he spoken to at the club. The result didn''t tell the whole story of the game and the first half hour was shamrocks with Dan Carr(nephew of franz) pulling the strings and opening the scoring and being a constant menace before being forced off injured. The home side were also missing a star player in Burke who would become the first league of Ireland player to score for his country in 30years the following night. League leaders Dundalk then came into the game and Hoban headed an equaliser before half time. We moved to the opposite end of the stand for the second half which was initially cagey but then opened up with the visitors scoring two more through Cleary and Massey, shamrock hit back hitting the bar and having a shot cleared off the line before Lopez turned the pressure into another goal for Shamrock but but as you thought the tide had turned Dundalk went straight on the attack with benson scoring a quickfire brace both sides could have scored more but the points went back with the noisey visitors. The home fans weren''t happy, calling for the managers head but they contributed to an entertaining game for the neutral and but for absentees and injury the result could have been very different. Our hotel wasn''t too far away and I had time for a nightcap Guiness before bed and part two of our adventure...