SHAMROCK Rovers had no trouble booking their place in Round 4 of the FAI Ford Cup as they had too much for Athlone Town at Tallaght.

 

Last year’s beaten finalists, the competition’s most successful team, will want to get back to the Aviva Stadium this November and while they will have tougher nights than this one they will be the team no one wants to meet.

Goals from Gary McCabe, Chris Turner, Dean Kelly and Billy Dennehy did the damage and at times the gulf in class was a wide one.

Michael O’Neill rang the changes after the midweek derby win over Bohemians, with seven changes to the starting line up.

But with Athlone operating with a defensive 4-5-1, they still couldn’t stem the tide as winger McCabe opened the scoring after 12 minutes.

The former Bray Wanderers man’s finish was brilliant after Ciaran Kilduff had nudged Dennehy’s cross in his direction in the box.

The visitors couldn’t get out of their half, instead it was always the Hoops who looked more likely to score but they had to wait until after the break.

They did try, McCabe stung the hands of goalkeeper Michael Schlingermann, while Gary O’Neill hit the post with a fantastic drive.

But while they couldn’t add to their lead before the break, it didn’t take long after the interval for Turner to double it. The former Northern Ireland underage star is not known for his heading, but he met Dennehy’s free kick crisply and the ball hit the roof of the net.

The game quietened down thereafter, but Dean Kelly added a third after coming off the bench. The striker latched on to Kilduff’s flick and finished well for his first Rovers goal.

He then hit the post, but made up for it by laying the ball off to Dennehy who completed the rout.

SHAMROCK ROVERS – Thompson; Gannon, Sives (Flynn 79), Murray, McCormack; McCabe, O’Donnell, Turner (Rice 75), Dennehy; O’Neill (Kelly 68), Kilduff.

ATHLONE TOWN – Shlingermann; Scullion, Barrett, Danaher, Carr; Stack (Gardiner 65), Relihan, Young (Sweeney 53), Williamson, Monaghan; Tier.

REFEREE – T Connolly (Dublin).