Sporting Fingal 3 - 3 St Patricks Athletic

• Simon Carter
• Thu, Sep 11 2008




A last minute penalty by Colm James earned Sporting Fingal another chance to progress to the semi-final of the FAI Ford Cup, having drawn 3-3 with St Patricks Athletic tonight in Morton Stadium. Two goals in 18 minutes from Fingal set Liam Buckley’s men off to a flyer before a Mark Quigley double and a Gary Dempsey goal looked enough for the Saints to progress before James’ 90th minute penalty.

 

Sporting Fingal were looking to cause an upset, hoping to catch Pats still reeling after a crushing 3-0 defeat to Bohemians as well as a 1st Round UEFA Cup game on Tuesday no doubt on the players’ minds. Six minutes into the game, Peter Hynes gave the 1st Division team the lead, followed by a goal from Peter Byrne on 18 minutes.

 

St Pats fought back and managed to lead the game at half time. Mark Quigley scored on 35 minutes, Gary Dempsey equalised on 42 minutes before the Saints top marksman Quigley gave the Inchicore team the lead on 44 minutes.

 

The game was in the dying minutes when Sporting went down to ten men, with the dismissal of Robbie Doyle on 88 minutes. Despite the numerical advantage, St Pats failed to hold on, and ended an unhappy week by conceding a last minute penalty, put away by Colm James. The date of the replay will be September 26th.

 

Sporting Fingal: Steve Williams; Derek Tyrell, Barry Ferguson, Philip Byrne, Brian Gannon; Conan Byrne (Dinny Corcoran 85), Colm James, Paul Caffrey (Jim Crawford 83), Fiachra McArdle (Brian Morrisroe 67); Peter Hynes, Robbie Doyle.

 

St Patrick's Athletic: Barry Ryan; Damien Lynch, Jamie Harris, Des Byrne, Joe O'Cearuill; Ryan Guy, Jaroslaw Bialek, Gary Dempsey, Alan Kirby; Mark Quigley (Dave Partridge 90), Gary O'Neill (Glen Fitzpatrick 72).

 

Referee: Dave McKeon.

Attendance: 1,932