Bohemians 1 St Patrick’s Athletic 3
Fourth-place St Patrick’s Athletic maintained their push for European football in 2023 with a two-goal triumph over Dublin rivals Bohemians at Dalymount Park on Monday night.
Having posed an early threat on the Bohs goal, Pat’s opened the scoring in the eighth minute. At the end of a superb run from deep, Barry Cotter – on loan from top-flight leaders Shamrock Rovers – unleashed a left-footed shot that smashed off the face of opposition player Kris Twardek on its way into the net.
This fortuitous effort looked like being the difference at the break, until the Saints doubled their lead in stoppage-time after Serge Atakayi picked out Chris Forrester for a clinical finish to the bottom left-hand corner.
While this left Bohs in an ominous position, they received a lifeline just past the hour mark. A goalscorer in last year’s FAI Cup final defeat to Pat’s, former Saints defender Rory Feely climbed highest to head home an Ali Coote corner from the right-hand side.
This injected fresh life into the Gypsies challenge, but in a desperate search for an equaliser their Inchicore counterparts hit them on the break and Adam O’Reilly displayed great composure in slotting home an 89th-minute insurance goal.
BOHEMIANS: McCracken; Feely, Kerr (Doherty, 46 mins), Kelly, Wilson; McManus, O’Sullivan (Coote, 57 mins); Twardek (Mullins, 77 mins), Burt, McDaid (Clarke, 57 mins); Varian.
ST PATRICK’S ATHLETIC: Rogers; S Curtis, Brockbank, Redmond; Cotter, O’Reilly, Forrester, Lennon (McClelland, 92 mins), Breslin; Doyle (Owolabi, 85 mins), Atakayi (King, 90 mins).