Cork City 0 St Patrick's Athletic 1:CORK CITY suffered their first league defeat in 12 games as Christy Fagan's goal midway through the second half gave St Patrick's Athletic all three points at Turner's Cross last night.

Following a good run and cross by half-time sub Darren Meenan, Fagan met the ball on the half-volley to fire past Mark McNulty to the corner of the net.

Though Cork pressed strongly thereafter, they met a stout St Pat’s defence which did not yield any clear-cut chances. The win moves Pat’s to within a point of third-placed Shamrock Rovers.

The first half began promisingly but subsequently failed to ignite.

Cork made most of the running. Davin O’Neill was lively up front while Daryl Horgan and Gearóid Morrissey were the most creative in midfield. Dangerous crosses from Horgan and Ian Turner were not capitalised on, though, and generally City had to rely on long-range shots, such as Horgan’s effort which was blocked by James Chambers.

In the 26th minute, O’Neill beat Conor Kenna for pace but the alert Kenny Browne cut out Vinny Sullivan’s attempted low cross.

The visitors best chance came after 37 minutes when the unmarked Fagan headed over from Ian Bermingham’s cross.

Then, in the final minute, Cork goalkeeper McNulty sent a free kick straight to Chris Forrester but McNulty managed to get back to goal before the striker’s low shot could cross the line.

The tempo increased noticeably in the second half, and O’Neill went close early on, shooting just past the post following a good run while Kenna got a deflection on another effort. After Fagan’s goal Cork huffed and puffed without success though Horgan tried his best to engineer an equaliser.

CORK CITY: McNulty; Dunleavy, K Murray, D Murray, Murphy; Turner (Lenihan 73), G Morrissey, Duggan, D Horgan; O'Neill (Kenny 83), Sullivan.

ST PATRICK'S ATHLETIC:Clarke; O'Brien, Kenna, Browne, Bermingham; Flood (Meenan 64), Bolger, Forrester (Coombes half-time), Chambers, O'Connor; Fagan (Faherty 90).

Referee: T Connolly (Dublin).