Sligo Rovers 1 St Patrick’s Athletic 1
Captain Ian Bermingham headed a dramatic equaliser in the fifth minute of added time, as St Pat’s claimed a last-gasp point in Sligo.
The veteran glanced a Darragh Burns corner to the net at the death to cancel out Jordan Gibson’s penalty and preserve the visitors’ unbeaten record.
Former Saint, Gibson, had netted from the spot four minutes into the second half, after he had been tripped inside the area.
It was probably a fair result, but the manner of the late concession meant it felt like two points dropped for Sligo boss Liam Buckley, whose side are now without a win in three.
It was a high tempo and high quality first half, but both sides were let down by their finishing having created clear openings.
Bermingham had an easier chance than the one he scored on five minutes when picked out by Mattie Smith’s cross, but he directed it straight at Ed McGinty in the Sligo goal.
And on the half-hour mark, Paddy Barrett came forward to head a Forrester free-kick onto the crossbar as the Saints threatened again.
At the other end, Greg Bolger had an early effort miss the target, while Romeo Parkes got the ball caught under his feet when he looked certain to test Vitezslav Jaros.
Gibson was lively throughout against his former team, and he made no mistake from the spot four minutes into the second half, after Barrett had tripped him inside the box.
And Sligo had the chances to wrap things up in the last ten minutes, as they repeatedly broke on the counter-attack.
The best chance fell to substitute Johnny Kenny, who dragged a shot agonisingly wide of the post after a neat one-two with Figueira just a minute after his introduction.
Rovers were left to rue it, as Bermingham had the final say.
Sligo Rovers: McGinty, Horgan, Buckley, Mahon, McCourt, Bolger, Morahan (Blaney 90+3), Byrne (Banks 80), Gibson, Figueira (Cawley 90+3), Parkes (Kenny 80).
St Patrick's Athletic: Jaros, Bone (Burns 57), Barrett (McCormack 81), Desmond, Mountney, Lennon (Lewis 68), Forrester, King, Bermingham, Smith, Coughlan.
Referee: N Doyle.
Longford Town 2 Dundalk 2
Captain Chris Shields saved the blushes of his goalkeeper Peter Cherrie to salvage a point for Dundalk with a late equaliser at Bishopsgate.
Their first goals from play in seven games were enough to lift Longford off the foot of the table on goal difference after they availed of two howlers to run up a 2-0 lead inside 14 minutes.
Dylan Grimes worked a one-two with Dean Byrne to run on and see his low shot bounce past the feeble dive of Cherrie and find the bottom corner for a sixth minute lead.
Cherrie then fumbled a Karl Chambers cross to allow Rob Manley shoot home his first goal of the season.
Dundalk needed a response and got it on 20 minutes from their first corner of the game.
Michael Duffy’s delivery to the far post was nodded down by Dan Cleary for Junior Ogedi-Uzokwe to tap the ball over the line from close range.
In end to end action, Byrne and Grimes came close for Longford before another Dundalk corner should have seen them equalise a minute before the break.
Again Cleary got his head to Duffy’s ball into the area. This time Andy Boyle just couldn’t apply the finish at the back post.
A mistake by Boyle, who allowed Michael Kelly’s long kick out bounce past him, let Manley in on goal two minutes after the restart.
Cherrie redeemed himself somewhat with a fine save one-on-one.
Dominating over the last half hour, Dundalk kept pressing and were rewarded nine minutes from time.
Junior slipped a pass through for the run of Shields who showed ample composure to find the bottom corner with a right foot drive.
Longford Town: Kelly; Elworthy, McDonnell, O'Driscoll, Chambers; Dervin, Zambra (J. Manley, 77), Robinson; Grimes, R. Manley, Byrne.
Dundalk: Cherrie; Jurkovski, Cleary, Boyle, Adedokun; Murray (Kelly, 75), Sloggett (Zahibi, 62), Shields; McEleney (Midtskogen, 62), Ogedi-Uzokwe, Duffy.
Referee: Damien MacGraith (Mayo).
Derry City 1 Finn Harps 2
A late, late goal from Finn Harps’ top hitman, Adam Foley, saw Ollie Horgan’s side return to winning ways at the Brandywell.
And Derry City hearts were broken when captain, Eoin Toal, directed a 95th minute header onto the upright as the home side battled to the end to avoid defeat.
The 89th minute winner saw new Derry boss, Ruaidhrí Higgins, lose his first game in three starts as the Donegal men’s victory consolidated their fourth place position on the Premier Division table.
In what proved an all-action North West derby, with both sides pushing for the win, Harps’ physical strength and their constant dangers in set-piece situations caused Derry no shortage of problems.
The visitors opened on the front foot with Karl O’Sullivan delivering a superb cross into the danger area but the advancing Barry McNamee failed to get his volley on target.
Derry broke the deadlock in the 17th minute following a fluent move on the left flank.
Danny Lafferty played a superbly timed pass into the path of James Akintunde and the striker ghosted past two Harps defenders before curling the ball to the net from 10 yards.
And the Harps keeper was called into action again in the 20th minute, diving at full stretch to parry Will Patching’s shot wide of his goal.
Harps continued to threaten from set-piece situations and Stephen Folan went close to restoring equality when he met McNamee’s low corner, the ball skimming over the crossbar three minutes later.
And one minute before the break the visitors went close again when Will Seymore crashed a long range wind-assisted effort off the Derry crossbar with goalkeeper Nathan Gartside beaten.
Harps, however, brought the sides level in the 54th minute, Derry failing to defend McNamee’s free-kick.
Dave Webster forced Gartside into a top drawer save following his header and as the ball rebounded to the 18 yards line Owolabi’s strike appeared to be helped home by O’Sullivan from close range.
Derry went so close to winning it in the 80th minute when Will Fitzgerald played in Jack Malone but the substitute smashed the ball against the base of the upright with McGinley beaten.
Finn Harps claimed the spoils at the death when the lively McNamee played the perfect pass into the path of Foley and he lashed the ball home in the one-on-one situation with Gartside, his fifth strike of the season so far.
Derry City: Gartside; Boyce, Toal, McJannet, Lafferty; Harkinff (Ferry, 90), Thomson (Malone, 67) k; Patching, Barr (Parkhouse, 54), Fitzgerald; Akintunde.
Finn Harps: McGinley; Webster (Boyle, 65), Sadiki, Folan, Russell; Coyle; O'Sullivan, T McNamee (B. McNamee, 90), Seymore; Foley, Owolabi (Browne, 82).
Referee: P. McLaughlin (Donegal).
