Bohemians 2 St Patrick’s Athletic 3
Three goals in 11 first-half minutes were crucial at Dalymount Park as St Patrick’s Athletic moved up to second with a nail-biting victory over league leaders Bohemians.
Despite the concession of an early goal to Adam McDonnell, the Saints spectacularly took control of the proceedings with quick-fire contributions from Chris Forrester, Jason McClelland and Mark Doyle. Bohs did pull one back through Dean Wiliams after Jordan Flores had been red carded and while they emerged on the wrong side of the result, the Gypsies do remain at the summit of the top-flight table.
Although they suffered a 2-0 reversal at home to champions Shamrock Rovers seven days earlier, Bohs cemented their status as Premier Division pacesetters with a 1-0 success against Derry City on Monday. There was just 14 minutes gone when Declan Devine’s charges broke the deadlock in this contest – McDonnell finishing superbly into the bottom right-hand corner.
It looked set to be a difficult night at the office for their Inchicore counterparts, but Pat’s remarkably found themselves in the ascendancy by the first-quarter mark. Just five minutes after falling behind, the Saints were back on level terms when a Forrester corner on the left-wing appeared to bounce all the way past opposition netminder James Talbot.
Buoyed by this equaliser, the visitors edged in front when McClelland turned home Anto Breslin’s pinpoint delivery in the 23rd-minute. Bohs were left shell-shocked by this stunning scoring blitz from Pat’s and their woes were further compounded on the half-hour.
Jamie Lennon’s outstanding through ball set Eoin Doyle free on goal and while the former Preston North End striker had his subsequent strike saved by Talbot, the Bohs number one couldn’t keep out a rebounded effort from a tight angle by his namesake Mark Doyle.
This ultimately left the league leaders 3-1 adrift at the interval, but of equal concern to Devine was the fact his side were reduced to 10 men after Flores was sent off for a dangerous tackle on Lennon.
Yet the Gypsies displayed admirable resilience when faced with a numerical deficiency and gave themselves a fighting chance just beyond the hour mark.
When these two teams met a little over a month ago at Richmond Park, Williams scored off the bench to seal a 2-0 triumph. He was also introduced in this game as part of a triple substitution by Devine and finished off a sweeping move on 62 minutes to reignite the Bohs challenge.
The four-time league winners had a glorious opportunity to get themselves back on level terms moments later, but Dylan Connolly couldn’t divert his shot beyond the reach of Dean Lyness.
In a frantic finale that saw the game being held up for several minutes so that a spectator could receive medical attention, a nervy St Pat’s lost their own substitute Thomas Lonergan to a second yellow card before eventually holding out for all three points.
BOHEMIANS: Talbot; Benn (Twardek, 59 mins), Horton, Radkowski, Kirk; Buckley, Flores; Connolly (O’Sullivan, 72 mins), McDonnell (Clarke, 59 mins), McDaid (Williams, 59 mins); Afolabi.
ST PATRICK’S ATHLETIC: Lyness; Curtis, Lewis, McGrath, Breslin; Lennon (Carty, 76 mins), Murphy (Timmermans, 67 mins), Forrester; McClelland (Kreida, 67 mins), E Doyle (Lonergan, 82 mins), M Doyle (Atakayi, 82 mins).
Referee: P McLaughlin (Donegal).