Shamrock Rovers stun Santa Clara in Conference League

Shamrock Rovers find themselves firmly in the driving seat in their Conference League play-off joust with Santa Clara, following a famous defeat of the Portuguese side at the Estadio de Sao Miguel at Ponta Delgada.

Santa Clara, who finished fifth in the Primeira Liga last term, did lead this first-leg tie after Vinicius Lopes found the net after 20 minutes. However strikes from the two Dannys - Grant and Mandroiu - means that the Hoops find themselves just 90 minutes from another European league stage ahead of next week's second leg at Tallaght Stadium.

As expected, Rovers boss Stephen Bradley made wholesale changes to the team which overcame Longford Town in the FAI Cup last weekend, with no less than eight switches to his starting eleven as Dan Cleary, Roberto Lopes, Danny Grant, Dylan Watts, Matt Healy, Josh Honohan, Rory Gaffney and Danny Mandroiu all returned.

Played in the late summer heat of the Azores at the most westerly football outpost on the continent, it was the Portuguese side who settled into the rhythm of this tie earlier.

Shamrock Rovers players celebrating a famous win in the Azores

Striker Gabriel Silva had McGinty off his line six minutes in after he was played through by Adriano near the half-way line. Chased by two Rovers defenders, Silva could only drive his subsequent effort wide of goal with McGinty narrowing the angle. TV replays afterwards showed that a goal, had it arrived, would not have stood as Silva was offside.

Santa Clara are one of only four Portuguese top flight sides yet to pick up a point from the opening two weeks of their season, but they went close again on ten minutes as Silva engineered the space to wrap a shot around McGinty's far post.

The home side went ahead on 20 minutes. Diogo Cabral's impressive, sweeping cross-field ball landed in the path of wide-man Paulo Victor who pulled play back towards SIlva 15 yards from goal.

The Brazilian's initial shot was well saved by McGinty only for the ball to land on the head of Vinicius Lopes who steered it home from close range.

The Dubliners had the majority of the possession in this opening half but laboured in their attempts to break the Santa Clara last line.

However, Rovers did finish the opening 45 the stronger and Mandroiu flashed a shot past Gabriel Batista's goal seven minutes before the Irish men's equaliser.

Danny Grant (r) equalised for Shamrock Rovers

Hard work from Mandroiu kept the ball in play before he offloaded to fellow ex-Bohs man Grant. The full back drove into space before unleashing an effort which took a touch off the unfortunate Rocha on its way to the net.

Joao Costa did have the ball in McGinty's net just after the re-start, but the goal was instantly ruled out by the officials as the 25-year-old had strayed offside. The decision was then confirmed following a VAR review.

It was the Tallaght men's turn to be left disappointed by VAR on 57 minutes. Lopes did well to send a Watts set-piece across the face of the Santa Clara goal for Gaffney to bundle home. But referee Stefan Ebner's video team denied Rovers any joy with their decision, judging Galway man Gaffney to be in an offside position as he made contact with the cross.

Looking to become the first Irish side to reach the league stage of a European competition without going through the champions' route in the qualification rounds, Rovers were to have their way on 66 minutes.

Honohan's determination saw him leap over his marker to nod Watts' set-piece towards Mandroiu. The former Brighton youth player shuffled his feet in time to control the ball before executing a classy, composed finish into the far corner of Batista's goal.

The hosts upped the urgency levels for the final stages, but were well marshalled by the Rovers' rearguard.

Santa Clara: Gabriel Batista; Sidney Lima, Rocha, Matheus Nunes; Diogo Cabral (Miguel Pires 62), Paulo Victor (Matheus Pereira 85); Adriano, Serginho (Pedro Ferreira 74); Vinicius Lopes (Elias Manoel 74), Joao Costa (Wendel Silva 62), Gabriel Silva.

Shamrock Rovers: Ed McGinty; Lee Grace, Roberto Lopes, Dan Cleary; Danny Grant, Josh Honohan; Darragh Nugent (Cian Barrett 95), Matt Healy, Dylan Watts (Aaron McEneff 89); Danny Mandroiu (Michael Noonan 73); Rory Gaffney (Graham Burke 73).

Referee: Stefan Ebner (Austria).

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