Gavin Brennan of Shamrock Rovers (centre) celebrates his goal against Munich.— Photo: S. Ramesh Kurup
If TSV 1860 Munich had looked the pick of the eight teams after the
opening round of matches in the Mahindra & Mahindra Sait Nagjee
international football tournament, Shamrock Rovers was arguably the
least impressive. On Wednesday night, though, Rovers, came back from
behind twice to turn the tables on TSV 3-2 in a match that saw plenty of
action and drama.
Of the five goals, three were scored from the spot.
The Irish men had paid the penalty for a sedate beginning in the match
against Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk, though they had speeded up things in the
second half. On this night, they chose to continue from where they left
off against the Ukrainians, showing a lot more urgency in the opening
minutes.
The Germans, on the other hand, failed to replicate the form that saw
them blank Argentina 3-0. Still, it was the Under-21 boys from Munich
that scored the first goal of the match, in the 14th minute, as Michael
Kokocinsky made no mistake off the penalty kick awarded for a foul by
Felix Webber on Simon Seferings.
But, in the 32nd minute, Gary McCabe made it 1-1, also from the spot.
TSV, however, went ahead again, in the 42nd minute thorough another
successful kick from the spot by Kokocinsky; this time, the penalty was
for a foul on Nicholas Helmbrecht by David O’Connor.
That lead, though, was short-lived. The Irish equalised through Danny North in the injury time of the first half.
But that goal, which he scored off a rebound, after his own quick dash
down the left flank, seemed to have shocked the Germans, who felt he was
off-side and protested. The hard-working North was named the
Man-of-the-Match.
The teams were thus level 2-2 at the breather.
Seven minutes into the second half, Rovers went ahead for the first time
in the match. McCabe’s free-kick found North, who passed it back to
him. McCabe then gave a cross to Gavin Brennan, who headed home what
would prove to be the winner, from near the goal-line.
The result: Shamrock Rovers 3 (Gary McCabe 32-p, Danny North 45, Gavin
Brennan 52) bt TSV 1860 Munich 2 (Michael Kokocinsky 14-p, 42-p).
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