St Patrick’s Athletic 1 Cork City 3
Cork City maintained the pressure of league leaders Dundalk with a hard-earned victory over Liam Buckley’s St Patrick’s Athletic at Richmond Park.
After referee Neil Doyle pointed to the spot just 10 seconds into the action, the energetic Kieran Sadlier dispatched the resulting penalty to the Saints net.
Though City were expected to push on for the remainder of the half, they had to be content with a slender advantage at the break. This lead was eventually cancelled out just past the hour mark, when Conan Byrne’s neat close-range finish raised the roof off the Inchicore stand.
The woodwork subsequently came to City’s rescue when Ian Bermingham unleashed a half-volley inside the area, but John Caulfield’s side ultimately restored their one-goal cushion in the 72nd-minute.
Following fine approach work by Sadlier and Graham Cummins, Jimmy Keohane found the top right-hand corner with a superb curling effort. Deep into second-half stoppage-time, netminder Tyson Farago joined the Pat’s attack for a final roll of the dice.
However, after Sadlier’s long-distance clearance from an ensuing corner trickled all the way into the empty Saints goal, City’s 14th league win of the campaign was finally confirmed.
ST PATRICK’S ATHLETIC: Farago; Madden, Leahy, Toner, Bermingham; Desmond; C Byrne (Fagan, 79 mins), Kelly (Markey, 72 mins), R Brennan (K Brennan, 85 mins), Doona; T Byrne.
CORK CITY: McNulty; Horgan, Bennett, McLoughlin, Griffin; McCormack, Keohane; Sheppard (Beattie, 79 mins), Buckley (McNamee, 38 mins), Sadlier; Cummins (O’Hanlon, 72 mins).
Referee: N Doyle (Dublin).