IT HAS taken them 15 games - almost half a season - but Shamrock Rovers are finally back on familiar terrain.
For the first time this season, the Hoops are looking down at their rivals from the summit of the Premier Division.
The question now is whether the four-in-a-row chasers will be knocked off their perch again between now and the end of the campaign.
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A fifth league win in a row and their eighth in their last night games has Stephen Bradley’s side motoring along nicely. They are well and truly in their stride now.
Despite making several changes - and leaving Jack Byrne out of the matchday squad altogether, presumably with Monday’s visit of St Patrick’s Athletic in mind - they made light work of struggling UCD.
Sure, it took them 54 minutes to grab the insurance of a two-goal cushion, but there was no doubting the outcome of this one.
Once Trevor Clarke opened the scoring on 17 minutes, Rovers were in cruise control.
Aaron Greene followed that up with his first goal of the season and an Adam Wells own goal ensured the visitors’ dominance was reflected in the scoreline.
Clarke’s fourth goal in his last five games was watched by Andy Lyons, his predecessor at left-wing-back.
This time last year, Lyons was banging in the goals at an astonishingly prolific rate, so when his departure to Blackpool was confirmed it left a big void in Bradley’s side.
The return of Clarke, initially on-loan from Bristol Rovers, has plugged that gap. And once again Bradley’s men are profiting from a goalscoring left-sided defender.
Clarke’s forays deep into opposition territory clearly aren’t having an adverse effect at the other end of the pitch.
Last night’s result was Rovers seventh clean sheet in their last nine games.
And their margin of victory could have been even greater, had the normally reliable Graham Burke packed his shooting boots.
He could have helped himself to a couple of goals, but his normally devastating eye for goal let him down.
One of his shots - with his weaker right foot - even went out for a throw-in.
Burke could easily have opted for a shot instead of teeing up Clarke for Rovers’ 17th minute opener.
But Clarke deserved his opportunity to extend his purple patch, having picked up the ball from Sean Hoare in midfield and carried it towards the UCD penalty area.
He slipped a pass into Burke, he had a clear sight at goal but pulled back to Clarke, who continued his run into the box and swept the ball home from 12 yards.
The Ireland international shot low and wide from 20 yards shortly after Rovers’ lead goal.
And he missed from a similar position to Clarke six minutes before the break, after Darragh Nugent picked him out in space deep inside the UCD box.
Centre-halves Roberto Lopes and Sean Hoare also failed to find the target in the first-half as Rovers pressed but failed to add to their lead.
They didn’t have long to wait after the break, however, for the comfort of a two-goal cushion.
It came 10 minutes into the second-half when Greene popped up at the back post to side-foot Markus Poom’s cross past goalkeeper Kian Moore.
There was one more opportunity for Burke before his withdrawal for Conan Noonan. His shot squeezed through a forest of legs, but was saved at his near post by Moore.
Another Rovers substitute, Justin Ferizaj, was less than a minute on the pitch when he contributed to the champions’ third.
The Ireland underage international made his way to the byline and drilled the ball low towards the centre of goal.
Wells stuck out a boot to try and block the cross, but succeeded only in turning the ball past his own keeper.
UCD substitute Jake Doyle gave Rovers’ stand-in goalkeeper Leon Pohls his only real test of the night on 73 minutes when his long-range effort bounced in front of the German.
Pohls still managed to push the shot around his left-hand post.
Nugent cracked an 18-yard volley off the foot of the upright as Rovers pushed for another goal.
But with Bohemians slipping up at home to Derry City, the Hoops are two points clear at the top.
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