Bermingham rescues a point for St Pat’s at the death
By Daire Walsh
Team captain Ian Bermingham came to the rescue of St Patrick’s Athletic at The Showgrounds this evening as his 95th-minute goal earned the Saints a 1-1 draw with Sligo Rovers in the SSE Airtricity League Premier Division.
In a tightly-contested affair, Jordan Gibson’s 49th-minute penalty looked set to give the hosts all three points.
That was until Ballyfermot’s Bermingham intervened deep into time added on to ensure the Inchicore men came away with a share of the spoils.
While this result leaves the Saints two points adrift of champions Shamrock Rovers ahead of their meeting in Richmond Park on Saturday, it does extend their unbeaten run to nine games in 2021.
There was local interest in the Sligo side for this game, with Perrystown native Liam Buckley in the dugout and former Saints player Greg Bolger at the heart of their midfield.
His superb pass looked set to release Romeo Parkes on 19 minutes, only for the striker to fail to get the ball under control.
Pat’s centre-half Paddy Barrett was perilously close to breaking the deadlock just shy of the half-hour mark – his header from a Chris Forrester free-kick rebounding off the crossbar.
The sides were ultimately separable at the break, but it was another ex-Pat’s star that finally opened the scoring shortly after the restart.
After he was upended inside the penalty area by Barrett, Sligo winger Gibson expertly finished from 12 yards.
Stephen O’Donnell’s visitors struggled to get going for large spells of the second period, albeit there was a notable increase in tempo during the closing-quarter.
They breathed a sigh of relief when Sligo substitute Johnny Kenny fired agonisingly past the target on 82 minutes, but this consequently kept their hopes alive in the dying moments.
With the last throw of the dice, Pat’s sent everyone into the opposition box for a corner – including goalkeeper Vítězslav Jaroš.
Bermingham was the one who rose highest to meet a telling delivery and he found the net to send the Pat’s bench into raptures.