- Ciaran Fisher
- Sat, Apr 17 2021
Ciaran Fisher reports from Oriel Park
It was points shared at Oriel Park after an enthralling match. Two second half goals, firstly from Sam Bone, then Junior saw it finish Dundalk 1 – 1 St Patrick’s Athletic.
There was lots of focus on off-field matters ahead of this match, with Shane Keegan stepping down as Dundalk manager hours before the kick-off. Nonetheless the players rose to the occasion and put poor form behind them to match their table topping visitors and offer entertainment and distraction for ninety minutes.
An early scare for the home side came in the form of a poor ball back to the Dundalk ‘keeper, an unwanted theme of the Lilywhite’s defending so far this season. Cleary’s under hit and ill-timed back pass on 4 minutes, put pressure on Abibi to clear; it was blocked down and Rónán Coughlan was blessed a chance out of nothing, but he couldn’t get it on target.
Dundalk settled after that, but The Saints had their tails up and edged the play for the opening twenty minutes, albeit without any chances of note. Matty Smith’s 16th minute strike from distance the only stand out effort on goal.
The home side looked menacing at times with Duffy and Jurkovskis making good ground on either wing, but the end product wasn’t there. Sam Stanton proved Forester’s equal in the middle and kept him very quiet for large spells. And it must be noted that Vitezslav Jaros, the on loan goalkeeper from Liverpool, was very impressive in goals and alive to crosses to dangerman Patrick Hoban.
Dundalk stepped it up a gear in the second half, but it was unfortunate that the catalyst for this seemed to be a soft goal just shy of the hour mark. A Robbie Benson corner was well headed home by Sam Bone who managed to connect ahead of two neighbouring white shirts in the box.
After going a goal down, Dundalk dominated play but with little success in breaking down an organised St Patrick’s team who appeared happy to try and hold onto their advantage, countering when the opportunity arose.
In fact, Pat’s almost doubled their lead with a quick move involving Mountney on the right who found Forester on the edge of the box. His shot was well saved by Abibi.
The final 15 minutes saw an onslaught of the visitors’ goal. Dundalk had two strong penalty shouts waved away either side of their equaliser, one for a handball and the other when, Paddy Barrett, hauled David McMillian to the ground.
Junior’s 85th minute goal wasn’t pretty, he bundled it home from close range. But it did feel almost inevitable given Dundalk’s pressure in the final quarter.
Duffy’s 88th minute shot having weaved in from the left was ferociously hit and seemed goal-bound but Jaros made a fine save.
In the four minutes of added time, the Saints would twice have to clear the ball off the line. First from Junior and then from McMillian, as the Carrick Road end goal led a charmed life.
With time ebbing away, Duffy skipped away to lead one more charge, his cross finding David McMillian’s head. The striker didn’t get the purchase he would have liked and although it went goalward, it was parried by Jaros. It was going to take something special to undermine the netminder on this form.
Both sides take a point away from this game. Stephen O’Donnell, the St Patrick’s manager, picked up a yellow card in the closing minutes. Perhaps he was frustrated at seeing three points slip away. Dundalk fans will feel aggrieved they didn’t nick a winner in the dying embers of this game.
Dundalk: Alessio Abibi; Cameron Dummigan (Darragh Leahy 78), Daniel Cleary, Andy Boyle; Sam Stanton (David McMillan 78), Chris Shields, Raivis Jurkovskis, Han Jeongwoo (Junior Ogedi-Uzokwe 59), Michael Duffy; Ole Erik Midtskogen (Patrick McEleney 46), Patrick Hoban.
Subs not used: Greg Sloggett, Ryan O'Kane, Sean Murray, Peter Cherrie, Wilfried Zahibo.
St. Patrick's Athletic: Vitezslav Jaros; John Mountney, Lee Desmond, Sam Bone, Ian Bermingham; Jason McClelland (Paddy Barrett 48), Jamie Lennon (Alfie Lewis 86), Chris Forrester, Robbie Benson; Rónán Coughlan (Billy King 68), Matty Smith.
Subs not used: Barry Murphy, Nahum Melvin-Lambert, Ben McCormack, Josh Keeley, Kian Corbally, Darragh Burns.
Booked: Sam Bone (40) ,Jamie Lennon (77) Chris Forrester (83).
Referee: Damien MacGraith
Attendance: 0
ExtraTime.ie Player of the Match: Vitezslav Jaros (Saint Patrick’s Athletic)
