Mulcahy swoops to seal Pat’s fightback
ST PAT’S ATH 3 DUNDALK 2
By Daire Walsh
Saturday March 26 2011
Dave Mulcahy was the hero for St Pat’s at Richmond Park last night, as his 89th-minute goal completed a thrilling second-half comeback against Ian Foster’s committed Dundalk outfit.
After a frantic start that saw Ross Gaynor go close for the visitors, St Pat’s soon started to get on top around midfield, but found themselves behind 17 minutes in, when former Bohs man Mark Quigley finished neatly from 18 yards — following good work by Daniel Kearns and Keith Ward.
After recent defeats to Bray and Shamrock Rovers, this was the kind of start that Pat’s boss Pete Mahon would have been hoping to avoid, though they should have been level on 35 minutes, when David McMillan failed to connect with Anto Murphy’s cross.
Jason Byrne also had a good chance for the Louth side, who would have been delighted to be going in with a 1-0 lead after a keenly contested opening half of football.
unlucky
Pat’s could consider themselves slightly unlucky to be behind at the midway stage, but suffered another setback four minutes into the second period when Quigley finished spectacularly with a scissor-kick from 12 yards, the marauding Simon Madden providing the assist from the right wing.
Things were not looking good for Saints at this stage, but their response was emphatic as a close-range finish from David McMillan on 59 minutes was added to just three minutes later by a looping header from his brother Evan (nodded on to him by Mulcahy), which had too much power for Peter Cherrie in the Dundalk goal.
This terrific comeback suddenly handed the initiative to the Inchicore outfit, and persistent pressure from the home side in the final half-hour saw Mulcahy — making his 100th appearance for Pat’s — finish off a goal-mouth scramble with a minute of normal time remaining to secure Pat’s second victory of the season.
St Pat’s — Rogers; Pender, E McMillan, Bradley, Bermingham; Doyle, McFaul (Crowley h-t), Mulcahy, Murphy; D McMillan (Flood 92), North.
Dundalk — Cherrie; Madden, Hawkins, Hector, Murphy; Quigley, Bolger, Gaynor, Kearns, Ward (Maher 63); Byrne, Quigley.
REF — D Tormey (Dublin).
– Daire Walsh