Shelbourne 2 St Patrick’s Athletic 1
Paddy Barrett scored a 90th minute winner as Shelbourne came from behind to deservedly win a captivating Dublin derby at Tolka Park.
Central defender Barrett met Harry Wood’s corner to power his header to the net from 16 yards for a massive first goal of the season. Ten minutes earlier Euclides Da Silva Cabral, who would win the corner that led to the winner, proved an instant hit with the Shelbourne faithful when equalising with his first touch.
The 24-year-old Portuguese winger, signed on Wednesday, was sprang from the bench on 79 minutes as Shelbourne chased the game against 10 men following Jay McGrath’s dismissal.
Within a minute, Barrett, Jack Moylan and Shane Farrell had worked the ball into the area where Cabral spun cleverly to flick the ball home. The result ended three defeats to St Pat’s this season to put a major dent in the Inchicore side’s title aspirations.
St Pat’s drop seven points behind champions Shamrock Rovers while Shelbourne consolidate fifth place to enhance their hopes of European qualification.
Unchanged from their win at Sligo Rovers last weekend, Shelbourne started on the front foot, carving a real chance on seven minutes. Mark Coyle, their march winner at the Showgrounds, tenaciously won the ball off St Patrick’s Chris Forrester to find Will Jarvis who skipped across the face of the box before rifling high and wide. Jarvis got another sight of goal just a minute later, on this occasion his shot lacked the venom to trouble Dean Lyness in the visitors’ goal.
Lyness was scarcely worked again from another flowing Shels counter on 11 minutes, Evan Caffrey’s tame effort bringing a comfortable save.
Shelbourne’s bright start counted for nothing, though, as St Patrick’s took the lead against the run of play on 20 minutes.
Home manager Damien Duff was livid with a harshly awarded free kick against Caffrey for a challenge on Mark Doyle. Jake Mulraney’s delivery was initially cleared, but recycled by Sam Curtis and Jamie Lennon. The latter’s arced ball back into the area was met by skipper Joe Redmond, who all too easily outjumped Caffrey, to head past Conor Kearns.
Though continuing to enjoy plenty of the ball, Shelbourne fell short in the final third, the hard-running Wood again finding space but the finish once more failed to work Lyness.
It was St Pat’s who might have doubled their lead in first half stoppage time. Kian Leavy did really well in the corner to find Doyle whose pullback was blasted wide by Forrester. Moylan then immediately summed up Shelboure’s first half frustration when shooting narrowly wide from Wilson’s cross.
As for much of the first half, Shelbourne dominated the ball from the restart. Yet again, though, they struggled to make their possession pay as St Pat’s defence, superbly marshalled by Redmond, held firm.
That was exemplified by a superb block by Jay McGrath on the dangerous Moylan who had slalomed through to get his shot away.
But McGrath’s night was over on 65 minutes. Booked for a foul on Moylan in the first half, he pulled back the Shels attacker to receive a second yellow card and a red.
St Pat’s continued to defend stoutly, Anto Breslin clearing off the line from a Jarvis drive with Lyness beaten before the pressure finally told over the last 10 minutes.
Shelbourne: Kearns; T Wilson, Barrett, Molloy, Griffin; Coyle (Hakiki, 74 mins), Lunney; Caffrey (Farrell, 58 mins), Wood, Jarvis; Moylan.
St Patrick’s Athletic: Lyness; Curtis, Redmond, McGrath, Breslin; Lennon; Mulraney (McLaughlin, 66 mins), Leavy (Murphy, 62 mins), Forrester, Doyle (Lonergan, 77 mins); Carty.
Referee: Neil Doyle (Dublin).
Shamrock Rovers 3 Bohemians 0
Lee Grace, Ronan Finn and Neil Farrugia were on target at Tallaght Stadium as champions Shamrock Rovers moved seven points clear at the summit with a convincing victory over arch rivals Bohemians.
Although there was no shortage of endeavour from both teams, clear-cut opportunities were few and far between in the initial stages of this encounter. However, there were strong penalty claims waved away at either end of the pitch, before the deadlock was ultimately broken two minutes before the interval.
Moments after he was denied by the left hand of Bohs netminder James Talbot, Markus Poom turned provider as his pinpoint corner from the right-flank was headed to the net by Grace.
This offered Stephen Bradley’s charges a 1-0 cushion at the break and their advantage was promptly doubled five minutes into the second half when Finn fired clinically into the roof of the net after a Rory Gaffney pass was deflected into his path.
Rovers now found themselves within sight of a 16th league win in 2023 and while the result was never in doubt, Farrugia put the seal on an emphatic performance by the hosts with an outstanding curled finish shortly after his introduction as an 81st-minute substitute.
Shamrock Rovers: Mannus; Cleary, Lopes, Grace; Finn (Clarke, 70 mins), O’Neill, Poom, Kavanagh (Farrugia, 81 mins); Burke (Nugent, 81 mins), Towell (Watts, 83 mins); Gaffney (Kenny, 70 mins).
Bohemians: Talbot; Buckley, Nowak, Radkowski, Kirk (McManus, 60 mins); Flores, McDonnell; Connolly, Clarke, Grant (Coote, 70 mins); Afolabi.
Referee: R Hennessy (Limerick).
Dundalk 1 Derry City 3
Two goals from Will Patching either side of another from Ben Doherty saw Derry claim a big win in the Wee County.
Ruaidhrí Higgins’ side had won just twice in their last 10 visits to face Dundalk and their neighbours Drogheda Utd. However, some clinical finishing saw them leave Oriel Park with the three points for just the second time in the last decade to keep the Candystripes in the hunt for the title.
Brian Maher was immense for the visitors, making numerous fine saves to deny a Dundalk side who had also struck the woodwork twice in the second half.
After denying Sam Durrant, Daryl Horgan and Hayden Muller, he saw his side hit the front with their first attempt on target on 42 minutes when Patching collected Paul McMullan’s pass inside the box before swivelling to turn the ball into the bottom left hand corner.
Patching would be denied a second within two minutes of the restart by Nathan Shepperd but Doherty was on hand to finish the rebound.
Having weathered a storm from the hosts, Patching made sure of the win on 77 minutes when he sent Shepperd the wrong way from the penalty spot having been fouled by Kelly.
Maher was denied the clean sheet his efforts deserved when Hoban slotted home a 96th minute penalty after Kelly had been bundled over in the box.
Dundalk: Shepperd; Davies, Brownlie (McCourt, 61 mins) Leahy, Muller; Yli-Kokko (Lewis, 70 mins), Horgan, Malley (Doyle, 61 mins); Kelly, Hoban, Durrant.
Derry City: Maher; Coll, S McEleney, Todd (McEneff, 74 mins), McJannet; O’Reilly, P McEleney (B Kavanagh, 81 mins); McMullan, Patching, Doherty, Mullen (McGonigle, 64 mins).
Referee: Damien MacGraith (Mayo).
Cork City 3 Sligo Rovers 0
Cork City recorded a crucial victory in their battle to secure Premier Division survival against Sligo Rovers at Turners Cross.
Sligo, who began the better side in the contest, had a great chance to score on 18 minutes, when Frank Liivak ran unchallenged into the penalty area, but his effort from close range was vitally blocked down by City captain Cian Coleman.
In the 28th minute, Cork were awarded a penalty kick when Jaze Kabia was taken down by Sligo goalkeeper Conor Walsh. Up stepped Ruairi Keating and he blasted the ball into the back of the net from the spot.
City almost got a second goal on 34 minutes, when Josh Honohan saw his header saved from a Ben Worman cross.
Sligo danger man Fabrice Hartmann was proving a threat, and he went close early into the second half, when his shot forced a good save out of City goalkeeper Ollie Byrne.
City doubled their advantage in the 65th minute. From a Cian Bargary throw-in that set Keating away, he found the bottom corner of the net with a well taken finish.
Keating completed his hat-trick on 75 minutes, when he kept his composure to finish after getting on to an Aaron Bolger through ball.
Cork: O Byrne; C Coleman, A Bolger, R Keating (T Owolabi, 83 mins), C Bargary, C Drinan, B Worman, J Honohan, A Kravchuk, K Čustović (G Walker, 38 mins), J Kabia (C Murphy, 83 mins).
Sligo: C Walsh; R Hutchinson, G Bolger, N Morohan, Pedro Martelo, F Liivak, F Hartmann (K O’Sullivan, 79 mins), S Radosavljevic (R Burton, 39 mins), J Mahon, G Buckley, N Pijnakar.
Referee: Oliver Moran.
Drogheda United 3 UCD 0
Kyle Robinson scored the goal of the night, and maybe even the season, as Drogheda United edged ever closer to securing their Premier Division status for a fourth straight season.
The striker began his career in Drogheda’s academy before spells at St Patrick’s Athletic and Shelbourne. He arrived back at Weavers Park in July as a replacement for Freddie Draper and four goals in his last three games point to how shrewd a move that was by Kevin Doherty.
United are now in the midst of their best run of home form as a Premier Division side in six years and back-to-back victories over Cork City and UCD are likely to go a long way towards confirming their place in the top-flight for 2024.
Robinson handed Drogheda the lead when he fired in from the edge of the area after a move that involved Luke Heeney, full debutant Warren Davis and Adam Foley. His second was a thing of beauty, catching goalkeeper Lorcan Healy off guard.
He expertly volleyed a dropping ball into the top corner from 45 yards out as Weavers Park bore witness to a moment sure to be talked about for years to come. Aaron McNally’s second half goal sealed the win.
Drogheda United: Wogan; Heeney, Keeley, Weir, Kane; Deegan, Brennan (Noone, 87 mins); Foley (Wade Slater, 87 mins), Davis (O’Brien, 76 mins), McNally; Robinson (Leddy, 83 mins).
UCD: Healy; Osam (O’Brien, 64 mins), Keaney, Wells, Dempsey (Curtis, 64 mins); Keane (Barr, 80 mins), Verdon; Behan, Brennan, Norris (Higgins, 70 mins); Kinsella-Bishop (Doyle, 70 mins).
Referee: Eoghan O’Shea.
