- Brendan Graham
- Mon, Apr 16 2018
St. Patricks Athletic recorded a slender 1-0 win against Waterford on Monday night in a game that saw two red cards for the away side capping off a miserable week for the Blues on the discipline front.
After just four minutes Dean Clarke found himself clean through on goal after a perfectly weighted through ball from Ryan Brennan. However, Clarke appeared to be hauled down in the box as he looked to strike the ball but amazingly the penalty claim was waved away and Clarke was booked himself.
St. Pats, to their credit didn’t let this turn of events hamper their progress as they continued with some trojan work in midfield and gained the upper hand in the opening quarter of the game.
Their hard work was rewarded after just fifteen minutes when a Darragh Markey cross into the box was met by Ryan Brennan who made no mistake this time and powered home a header to put the home side 1-0 to the good
St. Pats were putting serious pressure on the Waterford back four and should have done better after a drilled ball into the box by their captain Ian Bermingham from the left but there was no one to get onto the end of it and Waterford managed to relieve the pressure for a few more minutes.
It didn’t last long though and Waterford were finding it extremely difficult to deal with the constant Pats pressure.
With twenty six minutes on the clock St. Pats were awarded what should have been their second penalty of the night when Jake Keegan was hauled down in the box just in front of goal. Ryan Brennan had the ball in the back of the net again just after the whistle blew for the penalty and arguably advantage should have been played with Brennan finding himself with a free shot straight after the penalty claim but the referee pulled it back and awarded the spot kick
Keegan himself stepped forward to take the penalty and drilled a low shot towards the keepers right but missed with the ball rolling inches wide of the post.
A let off for Waterford but it seemed to have woken them up. They finally settled into the game and should have been level after thirty eight minutes. A Dylan Barnett cross somehow found its way right across the Pats goal to Courtney Duffus but he failed to capitalise.
Things went from bad to worse for Waterford minutes into the second half as Sander Puri was given his second yellow of the night as the referee deemed the Waterford midfielder to have dived following a soft challenge by Toner.
St. Pats were pushing hard for their second and James Doona almost put them two to the good with a rocket of a free kick forcing Waterford goalkeeper Vigouroux to tip the ball over the bar and out for a corner.
Jamie Lennon was next to go close for St. Pats when a Bermingham corner found the Pats midfielder all on his own on the edge of the box. He wound up his right foot and rifled a shot towards the top corner, Vigouroux at full stretch to send the ball out for a corner.
The second red card of the night came on seventy three minutes for Waterford when a wild lunge from Gavin Holohan on Darragh Markey left the referee with no option but to dismiss the Waterford midfielder and leave them down to nine men with still twenty minutes of the game to play.
St. Pats brought on midfielders Conan Byrne and Owen Garvan in the closing minutes as they looked to see out the game with their one goal advantage as they inflicted the second defeat in a row on Waterford.
The win for St. Pats has them in 6th place at the end of the night and a welcome win for the home fans following their defeat in Cork this past Friday.
Waterford drop to 4th place and have been beaten for the second time in three days to cap off a miserable week for the club.
St. Patricks Athletic: Murphy (Farago 46), Madden, Bermingham, Desmond, Toner, Brennan, Doona (Byrne 85), Markey (Garvan 85), Lennon, Keegan, Clarke
Subs not used: Michael Barker, Michael Leahy, Graham Kelly, Christy Fagan
Booked: Dean Clarke
Waterford F.C: Vigouroux, Webster, Barnett, Comerford, Feely (Kavanagh 46), Holohan, Puri, Kasmi (O’Halloran 69), Keegan, Akinade (Martin 69), Duffus
Subs not used: Derek Daly, Dean Walsh, Shane Griffin, Nial Corbet
Booked: Sander Puri, Gavin Holohan
Referee: Graham Kelly
Extratime.ie Man of the Match: Darragh Markey (St Patrick’s Athletic)
