Rovers' goal blitz keeps Europe in sight

Shamrock Rovers 5
Dundalk 2
by Charlie Stuart
SHAMROCK ROVERS kept their European qualification hopes very much alive as they blitzed Dundalk into submission with their biggest win of the season at Tolka Park yesterday.
In an amazing 16-minute spell midway through the first half, Rovers ran riot through the visitors' defence with two goals from free-kick specialist Marc Kenny and one apiece for John Morris-Roe and Richie Purdy.
The rout started after Kenny had been fouled by Brian Byrne at the edge of the box in the 18th minute. The Rovers' midfielder duly sent a curling shot from 22 yards into the roof of the Dundalk net.
Again the Dundalk wall of defence was breached with a virtual replica of the first goal after David Hoey had needlessly handled just outside the penalty area. And once again goalkeeper Steve Williams had no answer to another Kenny blockbuster.
Morris-Roe then got into the action with a remarkable-looking shot from 40 yards into the roof of the net after a mix-up between Dundalk midfielders Ronnie McQuilker and Mick Doohan.
Rovers piled on the agony for the by now demoralised Dundalk when Purdy volleyed home from close range after Williams had failed to cut out a Matt Britton cross from the right.
To their credit the Co. Louth team refused to lie down in the second half when it was obvious that Rovers had relaxed. They were rewarded with goals from a Doohan header and a Brian Byrne penalty after substitute Tom McNulty had been upended by Gino Brazil.
However, Rovers immediately applied their foot on the accelerator in the closing stages with Tony Cousins scoring his first goal since January 3 when he headed home a Britton free kick in the 80th minute.
SHAMROCK ROVERS: Horgan; Britton, Brazil, Whelan, Dunne; Tracey, Colwell, Purdy, Kenny; Cousins, Morris-Roe. Sub: Stokes for Purdy (66).
DUNDALK: Williams; Hoey, Brady, Doohan, McQuilter, Crawley; Melvin, Carlyle, Byrne; Withnell, Ferguson. Subs: Reddish for Carlyle (82); McNulty for Withnell (45).
Referee: Joe Casey (Waterford).

Shelbourne inch closer to title as point ends Finn Park hoodoo

Finn Harps 0
Shelbourne 0
TABLE-topping Shelbourne overcame their Ballybofey blues on Saturday night to collect another crucial point in their bid to land the Premier Division title.
And with St. Pat's drawing in Cork yesterday, Shels are still two points clear at the top.
Since Harps were promoted Shels have lost twice at Finn Park, and last April their title dream was finally shattered as they went down 3-2 in Donegal. So this was a point gained as far as Shels were concerned and the Tolka Reds will now have no fears about the Cup semi-final at the same venue on Saturday week.
But Harps will still be hoping to shock Shels again — and wreck their chances of a double.
"We froze for the first 15 minutes, but then matched them before getting on top," Harps manager Charlie McGeever stated.
In a game of few chances, both defences impressed. Shels began brightly with Mark Rutherford and Tony Sheridan looking lively but rarely troubling Jody Byrne in the Harps goal.
At the other end, it took Harps 42 minutes before they got an effort on target. Donal O'Brien's header was easily saved however by Alan Gough. Paddy McGrenaghan and John Gerard McGettigan were full of running down the flanks for Harps, but the Mick Neville-inspired Shels defence yielded little.
Declan Boyle was once again the star for Harps with a commanding performance at the heart of the home defence.
FINN HARPS: Byrne; R. Boyle, Minnock, D. Boyle, T. Callaghan, O'Brien, McGrenaghan, McGettigan, Speak, Dowling, Gauld.
SHELBOURNE: Gough; Costello, Neville, Campbell, Sheridan, Fenlon (Fitzgerald, 75), McCarthy, Smith, Rutherford, Geoghegan, Kelly (Baker, 75).
Referee: Paul Keon (Dublin).

Sligo Rovers 1
Derry City 1
THE decisive action in this low key north-west derby at the Showgrounds on Saturday night was crammed into a stunning three-minute spell mid-way through the second half.
After wasting a hat full of chances in the opening half, Derry broke the deadlock on 61 minutes, only to lose the lead two minutes later. James Boyle gave Derry the edge with a splendidly executed goal after good work down the right by Eamonn Doherty. But they were still celebrating when Sligo replied in spectacular fashion with Don Oates heading a classic goal from Neil Ogden's free kick.
Derry had enjoyed most of the play in the opening half but Paul Curran, Robert Bell and Eoin Morrison all wasted clear-cut chances. Sligo improved towards the end of the half and Conor O'Grady was unlucky with a volley from 20 yards which Tony O'Dowd did well to turn away at full stretch.
O'Dowd had to be at his best again in the 54th minute when he tipped over a clever lob by Steve Jones.
At the other end Gary Beckett went close for Derry heading against the Sligo upright from Boyle's cross.
After the goal burst mid-way through the half, both sides had chances to win the contest. The best opportunity fell to Morrison in the very last minute but he was denied by an acrobatic save by Nicky Broujos.
SLIGO ROVERS: Broujos, Southworth, Hutchinson, Reid, Curran, Birks, Jones, O'Grady, Oates, Ogden (Thew, 79), Rowlands.
DERRY CITY: O'Dowd, Doherty, Hargin, Bell, Curran, Dykes, Coyle, Hegarty, Morrison, Beckett, Boyle.
Referee: A. O'Regan (Cork).

Inzaghi saves Juve to cap memorable week

FILIPPO INZAGHI, whose midweek hat-trick put Juventus into the Champions' League semi-finals, hauled his team back from 2-0 down to earn a priceless 2-2 draw at Parma yesterday.
Inzaghi made one and scored the other as the League leaders turned around a match that could have dealt a body blow to their hopes of successive League titles.
Mario Stanic of Parma headed home a 35th minute free-kick from Enrico Chiesa, and five minutes later Massimo Crippa nodded in Chiesa's corner to give the home side a comfortable lead.
However, substitute Alessio Tacchinardi pulled one back for Juventus in the 54th minute, when Parma keeper Gianluigi Buffon blocked but failed to hold an effort from Inzaghi.
And Inzaghi made it 2-2 five minutes later to round off a big week for the World Cup hopeful, after single-handedly sinking(
Dynamo Kievon Wednesday.
Juventus were doubly fortunate as second-placed Lazio, just two points behind, missed their chance to go top by drawing 0-0 with strugglers Piacenza at the Olympic stadium.
Inter overtook Lazio last night by whipping AC Milan 3-0, with two goals from Simeone and a third from Ronaldo.
Udinese stayed fourth but closed in on all the leaders after winning 3-1 at home to Brescia.
Johan Walem opened the scoring in the 41st minute, cracking home a free-kick, and the Belgian midfielder followed up soon after the re-start by curling over a corner for German Oliver Bierhoff to nod in the second.
Bierhoff's 19th League goal of the season extended his lead on scorers' chart, while Igor Javorcic pulled one back for Brescia before Brazilian Marcio Amoroso knocked in Udinese's third.
Fiorentina drew 1-1 with Roberto Baggio's Bologna in a game marked by penalty takers.
Brazilian-turned Belgian Luis Oliveira scored one in the 36th minute, but Bologna were awarded a return penalty just two minutes later.
Baggio ran in to strike the spot-kick, but stopped in his tracks for a split-second before striking the ball into the corner of the net. The new style did not impress the referee who made him re-take it.
Baggio, notorious for his miss in the 1994 World Cup final against Brazil, promptly drove his second spot-kick into the other corner.
to earn his side a share of
the points.
AS Roma finished 1-1 with Vicenza and Sampdoria ended a run of five consecutive defeats by beating struggling Bari 1-0, with Vincenzo Montella notching his 15th goal of the season.
At the bottom of the table, Napoli rallied from 2-0 down to 2-2 with Lecce, only to lose 4-2, while fellow strugglers Atalanta beat Empoli 1-0.
In Spain, a controversial late goal from Predrag Mijatovic kept alive Real Madrid's hopes of retaining the Spanish League title .
Mijatovic looked to be offside when he was put through against struggling Compostela with 12 minutes left, but coolly slid the ball home to secure a 2-1 victory.
Barcelona stayed seven points clear of second-placed Real after a comprehensive 4-0 win over Athletic Bilbao earlier in the day.
Giovanni scored after four minutes and fellow Brazilian Sonny Anderson added two more to make it 3-0 just after the break.
Anderson set up Oscar Garcia for the last goal with a fine move to slip past defender Roberto Rios.
In third place on 50 points and four behind Real Madrid are Real Sociedad. Two goals from in-form striker Darko Kovacevic were enough to give the San Sebastian side their first win over Real Betis in the Anoeta stadium.
In an extraordinary game at Salamanca on Saturday, Atletico Madrid lost 5-4 despite four goals from Italian Christian Vieri.
Vieri seemed to have saved his side a point with two goals in the last nine minutes, but Salamanca's Edu Alonso slipped through to score a last-gasp winner.
In Holland, runaway leaders Ajax Amsterdam scored twice in the last four minutes through Shota Arveladze and Benni McCarthy to snatch a 2-0 league win over 10-man NAC Breda.
Ajax, their confidence seemingly dented by their midweek UEFA Cup defeat by Spartak Moscow, could not make inroads until the 86th minute.
A slick break through the centre of the NAC defence gave Arveladze just enough room to slot in the opening goal.
Two minutes later South African McCarthy, who was chosen best player of the recent African Nations' Cup, made it 2-0 from a Peter Hoekstra cross.
Ajax, seeking their 27th championship, have a 12-point lead over PSV Eindhoven.
In Germany, Bayern Munich ended a worrying goal drought with an impressive 3-0 win away win over VfB Stuttgart.
Second-placed Bayern closed the gap on leaders Kaiserslautern to six points but Kaiserslautern have a game in hand.

Injuries cripple Hoddle's plans

ENGLAND coach Glenn Hoddle has suffered further injury woe with five more players pulling out of his squad for Wednesday's World Cup warm-up international with Switzerland in Berne.
Manchester United midfield duo David Beckham and Nicky Butt, Arsenal's Tony Adams, Chelsea wing-back Graeme Le Saux and Arsenal midfielder Ray Parlour have been added to the casualty list.
Adams was forced to pull out of the squad after tweaking an ankle in Saturday's training session at Bisham Abbey.
It means that nine of the original squad selected by Hoddle have been forced to admit defeat in the bid to be fit to face the Swiss — including six players from Old Trafford. Gary Neville (rib), Phil Neville (foot), Andy Cole (back) and Paul Scholes (knee) will also not be flying out today after withdrawing from the squad before the weekend.
Hoddle, who has bemoaned the affect the disruption of the injuries is having on his World Cup plans, will announce any replacements today.
Beckham suffered a calf injury in the Champions' League clash with Monaco. He has had an X-ray and, with no improvement to the problem, Hoddle feels it is better for him to rest in England rather than travel to Switzerland.
Butt picked up a calf injury in the recent Premiership clash with West Ham although he did play against Monaco.
Parlour, impressive in last month's B international with Chile, has a hamstring injury which kept him out of Arsenal's FA Cup replay with the Hammers in midweek.
But striker Teddy Sheringham retains his place in the squad after a couple of days recuperation from a knee injury, which Hoddle said had troubled him for the majority of the season, and an ankle problem.
The one consolation for Hoddle is that he has possible replacements instantly available in the likes of Jamie Redknapp, Nick Barmby and Trevor Sinclair, who are all over-age players in the Under-21 squad to face Switzerland tomorrow.