St Patrick’s Athletic 0-0 Sligo Rovers: Spoils shared in Inchicore

By Daire Walsh at Richmond Park

A winning goal proved to be elusive at Richmond Park as St Patrick’s Athletic and Sligo Rovers played out a goalless draw in the SSE Airtricity League Premier Division.

This result ensures that fifth-place Sligo are now a point clear of Bohemians, and after playing out their fifth stalemate of the current league campaign, Pat’s remain in eighth – a point adrift of Bray Wanderers.

This game had been brought forward by three days because of the Saints’ FAI Cup semi-final with Cork City at the same venue this Sunday, but it was Sligo who created the first clear-cut opportunity of the contest.

The raiding Tobi Adebayo-Rowling pulled back for the onrushing Kieran Sadlier in the 17th minute, and his fierce goalbound effort was cleared from danger by Pat’s skipper Ger O’Brien.

The tempo of the play from both teams increased as the half wore on, and following a terrific pass by Graham Kelly, Saints winger Billy Dennehy was marginally off-target with a delicate chip from a left-hand angle.

Jimmy Keohane and Pat McCann also went close for Dave Robertson’s visitors, but the deadlock ultimately remained unbroken at the mid-way point.

It proved to a quiet start to the second-half, before Sligo striker Liam Martin shot narrowly past Brendan Clarke’s post just before the hour mark.

Saints boss Liam Buckley introduced Rory Feely and Michael Barker from the bench in an attempt to add fresh impetus to his side’s play, and Ian Birmingham’s powerful drive flashed past the Sligo goal on 65 minutes.

The Bit o’ Red subsequently brought Raffaele Cretaro into the action, and he had a strike from the edge of the box tipped over by Pat’s netminder Clarke. Kelly had a glorious chance turned away by Sligo’s Ciaran Nugent in stoppage-time, but try as they might, the home team couldn’t break down the stern resistance of their opponents.

St Pat’s will next be in league action at home to Wexford Youths on Friday week, while Sligo will be hoping to maintain their push for a top-half finish when they welcome Finn Harps to the Showgrounds next Tuesday.