League Report: Shamrock Rovers 2- 2 St Patrick's Athletic

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Dean Lyness celebrates Jake Mulraney's equaliser moments before producing heroics of his own to ensure a draw Credit: Peter Fitzpatrick (ETPhotos)

Shamrock Rovers and St Patrick’s Athletic played out a pulsating four goal thriller to share the spoils at Tallaght Stadium. Goals from Richie Towell and Jack Byrne were cancelled out by an Eoin Doyle penalty and a late Jake Mulraney leveller as an inspired Dean Lyness had a night to remember in the Pat’s goal.

 

Thirty one year old Englishman Lyness was making his first start for the Inchicore outfit, one of five changes made by Tim Clancy following last weekend’s defeat to Bohemians- Jamie Lennon’s suspension and Tom Grivosti’s injury meant starts for Thijs Timmermans and Noah Lewis while, in attack, Jake Mulraney and Tommy Lonergan made way for Conor Carty and Eoin Doyle.

 

The hosts’ last league fixture saw a goalless encounter at Shelbourne’s Tolka Park. In response, out went Sean Kavanagh and Graham Burke with Trevor Clarke and Johnny Kenny given the nod to start.

 

While neither side was able to find the net in their respective fixtures last weekend, that wasn’t the case on Friday night with Richie Towell the first to break the drought. The ex Dundalk midfielder collected a Rory Gaffney pass to drill a low effort from the edge of the box right into the corner of Lyness’ net with twenty minutes on the clock.

 

Pat’s almost tied the game moments later but Vladislav Kreida’s drive was shovelled to his right and away from danger by the ever reliable Alan Mannus. However, a few minutes later,  the Ontario born stopper was powerless to prevent the Athletic from claiming an equalising goal. With the first half drawing to a close, Sean Hoare made a clumsy tackle on Eoin Doyle in the box and the wily attacker took advantage to dust himself down and fire the resultant spot kick to the net, leaving the sides level at the break.

 



However, parity didn’t last for long with the home side nosing in front early in the second half. Neil Farrugia pushed the ball inside to Jack Byrne and the playmaker arced a wonderful effort beyond the outstretched dive of the keeper to land in the top corner of the net from fully thirty yards.

 

At the other end of pitch, Mannus continued to defy the ageing process with his agility- leaping to his right to flip a fizzing Anto Breslin over his crossbar as the away side sought a goal to bring them back into the game. Despite the setback of the save, Clancy’s men continued to press forward and their efforts bore fruit thanks to the left foot of replacement Jake Mulraney.

 

The pacy attacker skipped onto an Adam Murphy pass to rifle an effort from the edge of the box across the dive of Mannus and into the bottom corner to tie up the scores with moments remaining in regulation time. The away side were then indebted to their netminder as he made two wonderful stops in injury time- deflecting Jack Byrne’s goalbound effort onto the woodwork before standing tall to beat away a close range effort following a Shamrock Rovers corner. 

Damien McGraith's whistle blew almost immediately to ensure a point for both teams in front of a crowd of 7,674 as Shamrock Rovers continue the search for their first league win of the season while St Pat’s arrest a run of three consecutive defeats to pick up their first result on the road this season.



Shamrock Rovers: Alan Mannus; Daniel Cleary, Sean Hoare, Pico; Jack Byrne, Trevor Clarke (Sean Kavanagh 62), Neil Farrugia, Gary O'Neill, Richie Towell; Rory Gaffney (Sean Gannon 84), Johnny Kenny (Lee Grace 73).

Subs not used: Leon Pohls, Liam Burt, Justin Ferizaj, Darragh Nugent, Graham Burke, Conan Noonan.

Booked: Neil Farrugia (26), Richie Towell (41), Sean Gannon (90).

 

St. Patrick's Athletic: Dean Lyness; Anto Breslin, Sam Curtis, Noah Lewis (Mark Doyle 80), Joe Redmond; Chris Forrester (Ben McCormack 87), Vladislav Kreida, Jay McGrath, Thijs Timmermans (Adam Murphy 80); Conor Carty (Jake Mulraney 66), Eoin Doyle (Thomas Lonergan 66).

Subs not used:David Odumosu, Jason McClelland, Serge Atakayi, Carl Axel Sjoberg.

Booked: Noah Lewis (70), Jay McGrath (77), Adam Murphy (82), Vladislav Kreida (90).

Sent off:Tim Clancy (90).

 

Referee: Damien McGraith

Attendance:7,674

 

 

 

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