Shamrock Rovers earn priceless point with SK Rapid draw

Johnny Kenny rescued a precious point for Shamrock Rovers in a game that had threatened to unravel pretty quickly.

But his second-half equaliser in Vienna not only banks the Hoops another €133,000 for their night’s work, but sets them up for a shot at history. After moving onto eight points with two games to go, Stephen Bradley’s will secure their place in the knockout stages in February.

Bradley had warned that Rapid - unbeaten in their three games before this - would be the Hoops toughest test in Europe this season, not least because Rovers are out of season and their Austrian opponents are in the middle of theirs. And it was shaping up that way after their dominant first-half display where Nenad Cvetkovic fired them into an early lead, while also hitting the woodwork twice.

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But Rovers played with purpose after the break, showing signs of a team maturing all the time in these sorts of surroundings. Too often in Europe, they have let themselves down defensively but, in the second-half at least, they were much improved in that department.

While the 700 fans who travelled over might have been watching through their fingers at times, that no-nonsense display at the back set a decent foundation. And Kenny pounced in the 55th minute to prod home an equaliser that saw the players celebrate with the fans after the final whistle as if they had plundered all three.

Meanwhile, the Rapid fans booed the Hoops players off the pitch after the respective management teams rowed after a member of the Rovers party threw a second ball onto the pitch in injury-time.

Shamrock Rovers' Johnny Kenny with Mamadou Sangaré of SK Rapid Vien
(Image: ©INPHO/Ryan Byrne)

Kenny was too hot to handle and even if he had of scored with his second minute effort - a first-time shot might have been the smarter play, rather than letting the ball run across him - you sense Rapid would have pegged the Hoops back quick enough.

Dominating the ball with 71% possession in the opening half, they were a joy to watch and their slick, clever movement meant they were always a step or two ahead of Rovers. Matthias Seidl served the first warning, crashing a shot off the post after four minutes.

Kenny saw two more efforts blocked in the Rapid box, but Rovers couldn’t capitalise and they were the sort of chances they needed to be making more of if they were to stay alive on the night.

As it was, they slipped behind in the ninth minute, just moments after the superb Mali international Mamadou Sangare thumped the crossbar with a shot from the edge of the box, while Leon Pohls was at full stretch to keep out Guido Burgstaller’s follow-up.

Seidl whipped in a corner that Kenny headed up in the air but, crucially, Serge-Philippe Raux-Yao outjumped Josh Honohan to the second ball and it fell to big centre-back Nenad Cvetkovic who swivelled and hooked the ball home from 10-yards.

SK Rapid fans
(Image: ©INPHO/Ryan Byrne)

But Cvetkovic wasn’t so clever at the other end, trying to deal with a Dylan Watts ball to Kenny. The Serb got his feet in a tangle while under pressure from the striker and couldn’t make up his mind between shepherding the ball and playing it back to his goalkeeper. Kenny pounced but his shot from an impossible angle was high and wide.

Not much was going Rovers way, but they managed to avoid a penalty when the Hungarian referee’s decision to penalise Gary O’Neill for a ‘handball’ in the box was overturned by VAR just five minutes into the second-half.

And it was the spark they needed to catch Rapid napping and pull level five minutes later. Neil Farrugia teed up Josh Honohan and he raided down the left, took on Bendeguz Bolla and whipped a cracking low ball into the box that Kenny turned home at close range.

But Ropid weren’t rattled by it and responded with a Dion Beljo header that clipped the crossbar while Sangare almost capitalised on a sloppy clearance, but fizzed a curling shot a yard over Pohls’ crossbar.

Rapid were riled, however, by the Hoops game management in the closing stages. Manager Robert Klauß was incensed at the various breaks in play when Rovers players went down citing injury and it disrupted the hosts’ rhythm as they chased a winner.

But it was actually Kenny who went the closest to cliching it in those final throes. His first time shot with Niklas Hedl fractionally off centre didn’t have the punch to beat the goalkeeper, but the ball clipped off Hedl’s foot and could have gone anywhere.

Kenny, who went close again soon after, had his head in his hands but he had done his bit by weighing in with the goal that rescued a game that was getting away from Shamrock Rovers, who now look certain to be playing knockout football in February.

SK RAPID: Hedl 6; Bolla 6, Cvetkovic 7, Raux-Yao 7, Auer 6; Seidl 7 (Wurmbrand 88, 5), Grgic 7, Sangare 7, Schaub 6 (Kaygin 68, 6); Burgstaller 6 (Bischof 68, 6), Beljo 6.

SHAMROCK ROVERS: Pohls 6, Cleary 7, Lopes 7, Grace 7; Honohan 8, Watts 7 (Byrne 88, 6), O’Neill 6 (Nugent 75, 6), Poom 6, Burns 6 (Clarke 88, 6), Farrugia 7, Kenny 8.

Referee: G Bogar (Hungary)

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