- Dylan O'Connell
- Fri, Mar 06 2020
Dylan O’Connell reports from Richmond Park
St Patrick's Athletic got their first home win of the season on Friday night with a 1-0 win over Cork City at Richmond Park.
Billy King snatched the winner midway through the second half when he took down a long ball from Lee Desmond and curled it in passed City goalkeeper Mark McNulty.
This followed an often slow and patient game between the two sides, played out mostly in the centre of the pitch.
On one side, was a City trio of Henry Ochieng, Alec Byrne, and Cian Coleman, who covered the back four, and linked up with Daire O’Connor, Beneoin O’Brien Whitmarsh to counter attack.
They faced a possession based home foursome of Dean Clarence, Oliver Younger, and Jason McClelland, who commanded and dominated the possession for much of the first half.
While Pats had most of the play, their best chances came from set pieces with Chris Forrester having an excellent free kick tipped over by McNulty.
Ten minutes into the second half, St. Pats took the lead when King knocked in a long ball from Desmond.
City almost equalised straight away from the restart when Coleman twisted free in the box to shoot, but Saints ‘keeper Brendan Clarke saved well.
The Leesiders – who have not had a positive result on the road since August 2019 when they beat Waterford 2-1 in the RSC – poured everything into getting a late equaliser.
Shots from Daire O’Connor barely startled the Pats back line, as Clarke was on hand again and again to collect.
Cory Galvin was introduced with ten minutes remaining for his first league appearance of 2020.
The former Waterford FC midfielder was brought on in place of Henry Ochieng to try and give an added attacking flare to City, who were struggling to create anything truly meaningful.
The final chance of the game fell to Reyon Dillon, who headed a cross from Charlie Flemming over but Stephen O’Donnel’s men stood firm to take all three points much to the delight of the Inchicore faithful.
St Patrick’s Athletic: Brendan Clarke; Dan Ward, Lee Desmond, Martin Rennie, Dean Clarke, Oliver Younger (Jamie Lennon 78), Luke McNally, Billy King, Jason McClelland (James Doona 82), Chris Forrester, Shane Griffin (Ian Birmingham, 90).
Subs not used: Conor Kearns, Darragh Markey, Ronan Hale, Jake Walker.
Booked: Chris Forrester (69), Shane Griffin (80).
Cork City FC: Mark McNulty; Charlie Fleming, Henry Ochieng (Cory Galvin 78’), Dylan McGlade (Cian Murphy 90), Cian Coleman, Daire O’Connor, Ronan Hurley, Alec Byrne, Joe Redmond, Joseph Olowu, Beineon O’Brien Whitmarsh (Reyon Dillon 71).
Subs not used: David Harrington, Alan Bennett, Rob Slevin, Kyron Stabana.
Booked: None.
Referee: Derek Tomney.
Attendance: 2,078
