St Patrick's Athletic 0 - 1 Derry City
Credit:
Derry City secured their place in the Semi Finals of Setanta Sports Cup at Richmond Park on Tuesday night, thanks to a comfortable one nil win over Johnny McDonnell’s Inchicore side.
Pats started the brighter and twice hit the target early on. Before a minute had elapsed midfielder Gary Dempsey picked out Mark Quigley on the left. Quigley easily had the beating of Eddie McCallion, but his shot from inside the box when Ger Doherty was approaching was weak and easily saved. Keith Fahey tried a shot from twenty five yards but Doherty was equal to that effort also. From that point on Derry were in the ascendancy.
Barry Ryan was to then have a busy thirty five minutes up until the break. First, he made a fantastic save from the head of Barry Molloy after Gareth McGlynn had done well on the right. Sammie Morrow then dropped deep and slipped a delightful ball into the path of Kevin McHugh, but Ryan was again on hand to make a fine save. However, a minute later he was beaten when Derry took a well deserved lead just after the half hour mark. The ball was deftly set up for Kevin McHugh in the box, and he made no mistake with a right footed shot from ten yards.
On the stroke of half time Derry went close to going two up. A poor Ryan clearance from a back pass allowed Derry possession in an advanced position. Deery reacted quickly and fed Morrow on the edge of the box- but Ryan made up for his error with a strong one handed save to his right.
Alan Kirby was introduced at the interval as the home side switched to a 4-3-3 formation, but apart from a header off target from Derek O’Brien, they were still finding it hard to break down a well organised Derry back four that were getting plenty of protection from Deery and Molloy in particular.
Pats may have had the majority of possession in the second half, but it was Derry that again produced the better openings. Niall McGinn beat his man on the right and sent a low powerful cross in the danger zone. Morrow’s movement away from his marker to the front post was swift, but his touch was poor and his effort bobbled towards the far corner flag.
In the dying minutes Man of the Match McGinn had a wonderful chance to put the game beyond doubt, but from the edge of the box his first time right footed effort whistled over the crossbar.
St Patrick's Athletic: Barry Ryan; Damien Lynch, Dave Partridge (Dave Rogers 24), Jamie Harris, Des Byrne; Ryan Guy, Gary Dempsey, Keith Fahey, Derek O'Brien (Glen Fitzpatrick 71); Gary O'Neill (Alan Kirby 46), Mark Quigley.
Derry City: Ger Doherty; Eddie McCallion, Mark McChrystal, Clive Delaney, Steven Gray (Aaron Callaghan 57); Gareth McGlynn, Kevin Deery, Barry Molloy, Niall McGinn; Sammy Morrow (Mark Farren 83), Kevin McHugh.
Referee: Anthony Buttimer.
