League Report: St Patrick's Ath 1 - 0 Dundalk

Defending champions Saint Patricks Athletic beat league leaders Dundalk 1-0 in a crucial top of the table encounter in Inchicore on Friday night. Christy Fagan's early goal was good enough to give the home side the three points.

Saint Pats took the lead in the second minute. Greg Bolger and Keith Fahey were involved in the build up before Conan Byrne crossed from the right. Brian Gartland miskicked it into the path of Fagan who finished emphatically from inside the area.

Dundalk very nearly got back on the level terms in the seventh minute. Pat Hoban was unmarked eight yards out but could only hit his shot wide from a corner. Stephen Kenny's side had an even better chance a couple of moments later. Pat Hoban played in Richie Towell who only had Brendan Clarke to beat but the Pats goalkeeper was out very quickly to make the save.

It was Daryl Horgan's turn to threaten for Dundalk in the 14^th minute. He got round Clarke and tried his luck from a  narrow angle. Greg Bolger headed it off the line before Towell eventually fired over.

In the 36^th minute it was Pat's turn to threaten again. Bolger played a tidy pass into the feet of Christy Fagan and the Pats striker found space in the area before his shot was comfortably saved by Peter Cherrie. Just a minute later Conan Byrne got the better of Dane Massey before firing left footed. Cherrie had to be alert again and dived to his left to make the save.

The home side nearly doubled their lead at the start of the second half when Chris Forrester advanced towards the edge of the area before playing it to his right to Conan Byrne. Byrne struck it first time but once again Cherrie dived full length to his left and made an excellent save.

Dundalk began to dominate as the second half advanced towards the midway point. Patrick Hoban had a half chance on the hour mark when he turned in the area and hit one on the half volley but his effort went wide.

However, another mistake from Brian Gartland in the 70^th minute nearly led to a second goal for Liam Buckley's side. Fagan picked up possession after Gartland slipped and played it across the edge of the area to Conan Byrne whose left foot shot was just too high.  

Ten minutes from the end of normal time Daryl Horgan made a wonderful run down the left hand side and also put an excellent ball into the area. However neither Hoban nor any of his team mates were there to get on the end of it.

Dundalk had a wonderful chance to level the scores in the first minute of injury time. Ruaidhri Higgins’ left footed free kick into the area found the head of Dane Massey who headed over from six yards out with Clarke beaten.

After four minutes of injury time the final whistle went. The victory for Saint Patricks Athletic means that they are now eight points behind the league leaders. Both sides have six games left to play. 

Saint Patricks Athletic: Brendan Clarke; Ger O'Brien, Kenny Browne, Sean Hoare, Ian Bermingham (Aaron Greene 88); Conan Byrne, Greg Bolger, Killian Brennan (Conor McCormack 79), Keith Fahey, Chris Forrester; Christy Fagan (Mark Quigley 73).
Subs not used: Pat Jennings (gk), James Chambers, Lorcan Fitzgerald, Ken Oman, Mark Quigley.

Booked: Browne (45), Brennan (59), Bolger (84), Forrester (90).

Dundalk: Peter Cherrie; Sean Gannon, Brian Gartland, Andrew Boyle, Dane Massey; John Mountney (Donal McDermott 56), Chris Shields, Ruaidhri Higgins (David McMillan 56), Richard Towell, Daryl Horgan; Patrick Hoban.
Subs not used; Gabriel Sava (gk), Mark Rossiter, Darren Meenan, Mark Griffin, Kurtis Byrne.

Booked; Higgins (12), Horgan (31), McDermott (76), Gartland (83).

Referee; Paul McLaughlin.

Attendance; 1,653.

Extratime.ie man of the match; Keith Fahey (Saint Patricks Athletic).