Derry City 2 Shamrock Rovers 0
Derry City will return to the Aviva Stadium for the second time in two years and St Patrick's Athletic will be presented with another chance to avenge their FAI Cup defeats by the Candystripes.
And with Liam Buckley present at a packed Brandywell, he will be the first to agree that this game was won in the second half, Derry moving up a gear following the change of ends.
That said, the 63rd minute dismissal of Rovers centre-back, Jason McGuinness, for a second yellow card, turned the game on its head even if Rory Patterson squandered a penalty kick following that incident.
While Peter Hutton remained loyal to the starting line-up which served him so well in the first leg, Pat Fenlon opted for two changes, Karl Sheppard and Sean O’Connor replaced by Dean Kelly and Kieran-Marty Waters.
The home side created the first chance when Derry hit on the counter-attack through Patrick McEleney but his cross into the danger area was poor, the ball curling high over the Rovers crossbar after eight minutes.
At the other end Derry goalkeeper, Gerard Doherty, won a race for possession as Dean Kelly raced through the home defence three minutes later. McEleney sent Dooley clear on the right but the winger played the ball behind the advancing Rory Patterson instead of going for goal himself.
In the 29th minute Rovers, who continued to hold held the upper hand, forced the home side into defensive error due to a mix-up involving Doherty and Dean Jarvis.
Simon Madden gained possession and when the ball was eventually hacked clear, Waters failed to hit the target from 20 yards.
Rovers were presented with a superb chance to break the deadlock in the 43rd minute following another defensive error. The ball dropped into Waters but inside the area but rather than go for goal himself, the winger opted to pass to a team-mate and the chance was lost.
Derry looked a change side after the break as the began to force Rovers onto the backfoot. And in the 46th minute the large screamed for a penalty after Patterson hit the ground when bursting into the box between McGuinness and Conor Kenny, however referee Paul McLaughlin waved play on.
In the 52nd minute Patrick McEleney curled a free into the danger area but Dooley failed to make contact having advanced towards the back post.
Ten minutes later the home side were presented with a superb chance to break the deadlock when Jason McGuinness was shown a second yellow card when challenging Ryan McBride inside the penalty area.
Up stepped Patterson but the striker dragged the ball wide of the post and Rovers breathed a sigh of relief.
In the 77th minute Derry threatened again when a Barry McNamee shot was charged down by a defender and when Philip Lowry latched onto the rebound his effort crashed off the butt of the post. Seven minutes from time, a Patterson shot was deflected for a corner as Derry exerted sustained pressure.
And that pressure finally paid off in the 88th minute when Michael Duffy brought the attendance to life with a superb finish. Patterson dummied a through ball from Barry Molloy and the 20-year-old finished with aplomb.
Amazingly, Patterson made up for his penalty miss during injury time when he lashed the ball high into the net having been set up by Dooley and Rovers' FAI Cup hopes were put to bed for yet another year.
DERRY CITY: Doherty; Molloy, McBride, Barry, Jarvis; Dooley, McNamee, Lowry, Duffy; P McEleney; Patterson.
SHAMROCK ROVERS: Murphy; Madden, Kenna, McGuinness, D. O'Connor; McPhail Robinson, 60), Cregg, Brennan, Waters (Kilduffy, 77); Finn, Kelly.
Referee: P McLaughlin (Monaghan).
