ROVERS LEAVE PAT’S SO FLAT
St Patrick’s 0 Shamrock Rovers 2
BY DAIRE WALSH
GOALS in either half from Brandon Miele and Gary Shaw were the difference at Richmond Park last night.
St Pat’s made a bright start to the proceedings, as both Christy Fagan and Sam Verdon were close to breaking the deadlock.
They were hoping to avoid a repeat of their calamitous opening in Dalymount Park last Sunday, but on the stroke of 15 minutes, they suffered a significant set-back.
Right-back Simon Madden made an overlap on the right-flank for Rovers, and after controlling his delivery into the area, left-winger Miele found the bottom corner of the Pat’s net in clinical fashion.
This provided the visitors with a strong platform for the remainder of the opening period, and even though the Pat’s attacking duo of Conan Byrne and Fagan looked dangerous at times, the Hoops ultimately held a slender interval advantage.
With the prospect of a seventh league reversal of 2016 now on the horizon, Pat’s were looking to step up the intensity of their play after the restart.
Fagan did have a shot deflected wide of the mark in the 48th minute, and the introduction of former Republic of Ireland international Keith Treacy did add a creative spark to their play.
They were finding it difficult to break down a disciplined Rovers, but Rovers netminder Craig Hyland did produce back-to-back saves from Billy Dennehy and Darren Dennehy prior to the 70 minute mark.
Heading into the final-quarter, Pat’s were placing Pat Fenlon’s men under severe pressure, but Shaw was on hand to claim his third goal in as many games from a through-ball by Patrick Cregg 13 minutes from the end.
That was enough to ensure that the Tallaght outfit moved level on points with Derry City in third-place.