League Report: St Patrick’s Athletic 1 - 0 Derry City

Brandon Kavanagh was the match winner for the Athletic on Friday night

Brandon Kavanagh was the match winner for the Athletic on Friday night Credit: Matthew Lysaght (ETPhotos)

Patrick O’ Connor reports from Richmond Park

There was a raucous atmosphere at Richmond Park on Friday night when St Patrick’s Athletic finished off their home league campaign for the season with a one goal win over Derry City in an enthralling contest at the Inchicore venue.

The result, allied to Shelbourne’s 2-1 win over Drogheda, was hugely significant in the context of the league title, as it now narrows down the quest for that title from a four-team race to a two-team race.

The Saints did what they need to do to stay in the title hunt by winning but the victory for Damien Duff’s men finally ended the late season title surge for Stephen Kenny’s side and for the Candystripes too.

Shels and Shamrock Rovers are now the only two teams who can claim the title but last night’s losers Derry City can still have an impact on the ultimate destination of the title.

They play Shelbourne next Friday at the Brandywell and the result of that match could well decide if the league trophy will reside at Tolka Park or Tallaght Stadium over the winter (although should Rovers lose in Dundalk on Sunday, the Reds will be crowned champions).

The Candystripes were missing some key players and their injuries, which have been an issue all season, and their lack of depth probably caught up with them against Pats. They will now turn their attention to the FAI Cup on November 10thwith the aim of finishing the season on a high note.

This game was evenly matched for the opening 15 minutes but after that the Saints began to take over with their midfield sector in particular dominating their opponents.

Chris Forrester was at his imperious best in central midfield, Jamie Lennon was rock solid as a defensive midfielder and Brandon Kavanagh covered every blade of grass on the pitch as a running midfielder.

It was fitting that it fell to Kavanagh to score the only goal of the game which arrived just before half time in the 43rdminute.



Pats had applied a lot of pressure to the over worked Derry City back four and from one such bout of attacking pressure the ball fell to Kavanagh in the box and he fired the ball low to Brian Maher’s left to make it 1-0 at the break.

The Candystripes had to go with a more attacking formation in the second half and they replaced previously booked right back Ronan Boyce with ex- UCD striker Colm Whelan at half time.

Whelan went on to become their best chance of forcing an equaliser and his direct style of running posed a different threat to the Pats defence.

He tested Josephy Anang with a stinging shot in the 51st minute and five minutes later rattled the cross bar with a superb effort, probably Derry’s best chance of the night.

He also put in a right-wing cross in the 65th minute which Michael Duffy almost forced home but Anang came to Pats rescue again and he gathered the ball to the relief of the vociferous home support.

Ruaidhri Higgins’ side had a flurry of free kicks in the closing stages of the game but their set pieces were poor and they never really troubled Anang with their deliveries.



The game finished 1-0 to the Saints who now travel to Sligo Rovers next weekend for their final game while Derry City finish their league campaign with that pivotal home game against league leaders Shelbourne.

St. Patrick's Athletic: Joseph Tetteh Anang; Anthony Breslin, Tom Grivosti (Luke Turner 87), Ryan McLaughlin, Joseph Redmond; Christopher Forrester, Brandon Kavanagh (Al Amin Kazeem 73), Kian Leavy, Jamie Lennon; Zack Elbouzedi (Romal Palmer 61), Aidan Keena.
Subs not used: Daniel Rogers, Carl Sjöberg, Jake Mulraney, Jason McClelland, Aaron Bolger, Cian Kavanagh.
Booked: Jamie Lennon (36), Kian Leavy (69), Romal Palmer (84).

Derry City: Brian Maher; Ronan Boyce (Colm Whelan 46), Duncan Idehen, Shane McEleney, Andre Wisdom (Jacob Davenport 84); Sadou Diallo (Patrick McEleney 60), Paul McMullan, Adam O'Reilly, William Patching (Sean Robertson 71); Michael Duffy, Daniel Mullen.
Subs not used: Tadhg Ryan, Conor Barr, Aaron Heaney, Patrick Hoban.
Booked: Duncan Idehen (23), Ronan Boyce (25), Sadou Diallo (34), Shane McEleney (53), Paul Hegarty (Coach  65), Jacob Davenport (88).

Referee: Rob Hennessy
Attendance: 4,998 
extratime.com Player of the Match: Brandon Kavanagh (St Patrick's Athletic)

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