For those tuning into the Conference League knockout round play-off ties looking for entertainment, they’d probably have turned off after 30 minutes of this first leg.
There was precious little goalmouth action in the opening exchanges, but that probably suited Shamrock Rovers, who had already made history by becoming the first-ever Irish side to negotiate the group or league phase in Europe.
The first-half was a non-even throughout, with the only chance of note for either side seeing Emil Breivik blast the ball into the face of Valdemar Lund.
It was Lund who was at the centre of the main flashpoint of the opening 45 minutes too, wiping out Michael Noonan with a last-man challenge and receiving a red card which handed the initiative to the visitors.
Noonan is only 16 years of age and making his European debut, but he was to have an even bigger say on proceedings after the break.
Mats Møller Dæhli had his pocket picked in the area by Dylan Billy Watts, and he retained his composure to slide the ball across the six-yard line for the teenager to tap into an empty net.
Despite such heavy favouritism before kick-off, Molde showed little to suggest they were going to force a route back into the game, and with a man disadvantage, that did always seem a tall order.
That’s in part due to some dogged defending from Shamrock, who were battling like their lives depended on it as they flew the flag for their nation.
As it happened, they could actually have doubled their advantage in the closing stages through Aaron Greene, but his effort was repelled smartly at the near post by Jacob Karlstrøm.
That didn’t change the course of the result though, as Shamrock held on to secure a famous victory and move closer to the last 16.
They have one foot in the next round, but they’ll have to negotiate a tough second leg against an experienced Molde side, who are also bidding to make history as the last 16 would be the joint-furthest they’ve ever been in European competition.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Michael Noonan (Shamrock Rovers)
