Pat’s fight their way to triumph
Shelbourne 0
St Pat’s Ath 2
SECOND-HALF goals from Christy Fagan and Vinny Faherty were crucial in Tolka Park last night, as St Patrick’s Athletic got the better of 10-men Shelbourne in a tense Dublin derby.
Thriller
Sean O’Connor was one of the principle reasons that the Inchicore outfit came out on top in a five-goal thriller at Bohemians in their previous outing, and he showed his intent early on.
O’Connor forced a fine save from Shels netminder Chris Bennion with a snap shot from the edge of the area.
The Drumcondra men were taking plenty of confidence from their 2-2 draw with the current champions, however, and they were unlucky not to be awarded a penalty six minutes in when Hernany Macedo appeared to handle Anto Murphy’s half-volley, but on this occasion referee Anthony Buttimer waved play on.
He would penalise Macedo just five minutes later, though, when the Brazilian dragged down David Cassidy on the left flank (awarding him a yellow card in the process).
Cassidy’s subsequent set-piece almost caught out Barry Murphy, though the Pat’s custodian did manage to get it clear in the end.
Shels would continue to take the game to the visitors as the half progressed, and Barry Clancy went close with a brace of efforts in the 21st and 25th minutes.
But Pat’s were also starting to come into their own, and Darren Meenan almost deceived Bennion with a spectacular 25-yard strike, but the woodwork would come to the rescue of the Edinburgh man.
The ever-influential O’Connor would find a way past Bennion just the shy of the half-hour mark when he created space to shoot from a left-hand angle, but Shels full-back Ian Ryan cleared off the line.
The two teams were doing their level best to try and get their passing game going as the game restarted scoreless, though it was Pat’s who were creating the more clear-cut chances.
O’Connor once again having a left-footed drive turned away by Bennion on 51 minutes.
Meenan saw his curling right-footed attempt was headed off the line by the alert Stephen Paisley eight minutes later.
Pat’s finally took the lead on 70 minutes, when Christy Fagan found the net with a bullet header after O’Connor had delivered a pin-point cross from the right-wing.
Force
Shels did their best to force their way back in, but they suffered a major set-back on 84 minutes when Anto Murphy got a straight red for an off-the-ball incident with O’Connor.
As Shels pushed forward substitute Faherty took advantage by nodding O’Connor’s cross from the
left passed the advanced Bennion to give the Saints a hard-earned triumph.
SHELBOURNE: Bennion 7; Ryan 7, Paisley 7, Boyle 7, S Byrne 7 (P Byrne 83, 6); Murphy 6, Dawson 6, Hurley 7, Clancy 7 (C Byrne 57, 6); Cassidy 7; Hughes 6 (Gorman 67, 6). Subs not used: Matthews, Fitzgerald, Shortall, Skinner.
ST PAT’S: Murphy 7; O’Brien 7, Kenna 7, Browne 7, Carroll 7; Chambers 7, Bolger 7, Macedo 6 (Coombes h-t, 7); O’Connor 8, Fagan 7 (Faherty 83, 7), Meenan 7 (Forrester 67, 6). Subs not used: Clarke, Price, Bermingham, Flynn.
REF: Anthony Buttimer (Cork).