Limerick FC...1 Shamrock Rovers...0
First Division minnows Limerick booked an eircom League Cup final date against Derry City after Brian Donnellan’s second-half clincher sent Shamrock Rovers crashing out at Jackman Park on Wednesday afternoon.
Donnellan struck 15 minutes from time to end the Hoops’ hopes of a domestic treble, and pile on the misery for Rovers’ boss Damien Richardson.
Richardson had demanded an immediate improvement after his team’s horror show in Derry last week.
Instead he was treated to another shocker from his confidence-sapped troops, who are likely to finish the season empty handed at this rate.
Donnellan, a student at the University of Limerick, taught Rovers a costly lesson when he volleyed home Eoin Poill’s cross from the left on 75 minutes.
Rovers pressed hard for an equaliser, but went home with their tails between their legs and major question marks about their character after slipping to this sensational defeat.
Tony Cousins went closest to levelling it up with a rising shot that flew just over, but that was about the best Rovers could manage after another unforgivable performance.
Indeed Limerick could have won with a lot more to spare, with Derek McCarthy and skipper Brendan Hughes passing up three gilt-edged chances between them to add to the First Division side’s lead.
Noel O’Connor’s men caused a sensation when they dumped Cork City in the Leesiders’ own backyard in the last round, but no one gave them a hope of adding Rovers to their list of scalps.
But they came closest to breaking the deadlock in an evenly contested opening period.
Hughes, back in action after a knee injury, turned delightfully on the edge of the box and fired in a shot that brought the best out of Hoops’ goalkeeper Tony O’Dowd on 39 minutes.
The swirling wind and rain meant good football was impossible, and Rovers suffered more in the conditions than Limerick.
Home ‘keeper Jimmy Fyffe didn’t have a save of note to make in the first-half as Rovers appeared to be suffering a hangover from their 3-0 defeat in Derry.
Limerick went close again just before referee Hugo Whoriskey blew for half-time.
Shane O’Donoghue and Derek McCarthy combined to play in Hughes, lining out for the first time since the shock win in Cork in the quarter-final, but the midfielder shot narrowly wide as Rovers survived another scare.
Limerick FC: Fyffe, Poill, Browne, Finucance, Purcell, Whyte, O’ Donoghue, Hughes, Foley, McCarthy, Donnellan. Substitutes: Molan for O’ Donoghue (53).
Shamrock Rovers: O’ Dowd, Kavanagh, Byrne, Colwell, Palmer, Scully, Tracey, Cousins, S. Grant, Robinson, Woods. Substitutes: T. Grant for Kavanagh (77), Kenny for Colwell (85).
Referee: Hugo Whoriskey (Dublin).
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