League of Ireland
Premier Division
Monday 22nd June 2026
Kick Off 20.00 On Time!
Shamrock Rovers 1 Derry City 1, attendance 3,726
25’ 0-1
83’ 1-1
@ Tallaght Stadium
Whitetown Way
Tallaght
Dublin
D24 FNK6
€20 Admission + €1.50 booking fee.
€5 Programme available, didn’t bother buying.
It was a two and three quarter hour drive east to Dublin for tonight’s action and a chance to complete the League of Ireland Premier Division for the first time. I’d seen Shamrock Rovers play home games at three grounds already…. Royal Dublin Society Showground (Oct 1994), Tolka Park, whilst sharing at Shelbourne (Mar 1997) and Morton Stadium (Sep 1999). So, this was venue number four, Tallaght Stadium. It was opened in 2009 and has been gradually expanded into a now 10,547 capacity all seated stadium, with the club having moved in with just one side, the main stand, being in place, with the other three sides constructed in the intervening years. It’s very much in the style of the newer lower league grounds in England, with four completely separate stand alone stands. There is a tram stop nearby, but no idea what it would be like if arriving by car, as we were in a hotel no more than ten minutes walk away, so left the car there.
Tonight’s game was the reverse fixture of the match I’d seen these two play when Derry used Celtic Park, the Gaelic Athletic Association ground, for a handful of games back in April. That was a very poor game and this was little better. Derry were also poor away at Galway on Friday night too, so I wasn’t expecting a great spectacle here either. Derry were sixth in the league table, whilst Shamrock were top, five points clear of second placed St. Patrick’s Athletic, but having played a game more. It was the visitors who had the better of the early exchanges, smashing a 20 yarder off the underside of the crossbar two minutes in and taking the lead after twenty five minutes, when a ball dinked into the box by James McClean was met with a stooping header from ten yards by Liam Boyce that found the top corner. Much huffing and puffing, along with plenty of time wasting, especially by Derry, cost them dearly, when Rovers substitute Aaron Greene cut in from the left and fired a low shot into the far corner with seven minutes left. Shamrock pushed hard for a winner, but were unable to break down a stubborn defence, who held on for a point with some last ditch blocking of shots in the dying minutes.
So, that brought down the curtain on an excellent trip, with all six intended games achieved. With the Premier Division now complete, it just leaves Athlone Town and Kerry to do in Division 1, although that will increase next season, when the re-structuring of the league will see a new third tier added. Tuesday morning/early afternoon spent on the beach at Portmarnock, north of Dublin, before our 16.25 Ryanair flight from Dublin back to London Gatwick, which left seventeen minutes late.
