Shamrock Rovers are up and running as they moved off the foot of the SSE Airtricity Men's Premier Division table with victory over St Patrick's Athletic in their first home game of the season at Tallaght Stadium.
Danny Grant has Dalymount Park ink etched into his lower right leg but having crossed the city from Bohemians to Shamrock Rovers, it was with that same leg that he endeared himself to his new fans with the winning goal in the 64th minute.
Grant picked up possession on the halfway line ghosted by Tom Grivosti and his shot from the edge of the box flicked off Joe Redmond and looped over Joseph Anang into the roof of the net.
Cries of 'we are staying up’ rang around Tallaght Stadium, there was never any fear of relegation trouble, but it feels like Rovers got their season started tonight as they hunt a fifth Premier Division crown in six seasons.
It took until the 42nd minute for the best chance of the opening half to arrive and it should have resulted in a Pat’s goal. A brilliant Zach Elbouzedi corner took Ed McGinty out of the game and Mason Melia will wonder how he headed onto the bar from two yards out.
Rovers’ best moments came through Grant but he passed up two opportunities to shoot or slip in Aaron Greene from a narrow angle before his snap shot from inside the area was deflected wide.
As referee Rob Hennessey blew for the interval, Tallaght Stadium was the only Premier Division venue without a goal. The battle of the Stephens had yet to ignite with Bradley keeping his wing backs deep to nullify the power of Elbouzedi and Jake Mulraney.
Mulraney had been booked in the first half for diving and he was incredibly fortunate not to be punished again just four minutes after the restart as he tried to manufacture contact from Dan Cleary in the area.
The second half could only get better and it did, there was more energy to the game with both sides creating chances.
A delicious through ball from Chris Forrester took the entire Rovers back line out of the equation but Aidan Keena was denied by the onrushing McGinty who then caught Melia’s attempted lob from the rebound.
Moments later it was Aaron Greene’s turn to try a lob. He pounced on Tom Grivosti but his chip from 25 yards beat Anang and went the wrong side of the bar.
Soon, everyone was lining up to have a crack as Pico Lopes stung the palms of Joseph Anang from 30 yards.
Both sides looked like scoring and it was a superb individual effort from Grant which broke the deadlock and sent the majority of the record 8093 fans for this fixture into raptures.
The Athletic nearly equalised with ten minutes to go through Keena who almost added to his already stunning goals collection. A beautiful touch and spin saw him curl narrowly wide.
Shamrock Rovers: Ed McGinty, Danny Grant, Josh Honohan, Pico Lopes, Dan Cleary, Cory O'Sullivan, Dylan Watts (Byrne), Aaron McEneff (O'Neill), Graham Burke (Noonan), Aaron Greene (Gaffney), Matt Healy
St Patrick's Athletic: Joe Anang, Carl Sjoberg, Tom Grivosti (Turner), Joe Redmond, Anto Breslin (Kazeem), Chris Forrester (McClelland), Barry Baggely, Zach Elbouzedi, Mason Melia (Kavanagh), Jake Mulraney (Power), Aidan Keena
Referee: Rob Hennessy
