Rovers too good for St Pats

St Patrick Athletics’ season began to lose momentum last Friday with a 2-1 defeat to Shamrock Rovers at home.

Rovers were simply the better team on the night and goals from Tommy Stewart either side of half time ensured their victory.

This defeat allows Dundalk and indeed Rovers to gain some ground in the race for the title.

Shamrock Rovers were simply the better team on the night as they beat St Pats at Richmond Park last Friday.

The away side started well and had Gary Rogers at full stretch after just two minutes following a header from Dan Murray.

It seemed like it was merely a matter of time and to the credit of the home side’s defence, it took 35 minutes for the deadlock to be broken.

Tommy Stewart thumped the ball into the back of the net from just outside the box to silence the home support at their own turf.

Rovers had missed the chance to go ahead mere minutes before after Chambers missed a penalty awarded following a push on Patrick Kavanagh.

However, this did not shake their confidence and they looked well up for getting a second goal before the break.

The second half started much the same as the first as Rovers continued to dominate and Stewart again found the net just before the hour mark.

The former Derry man successfully beat the offside trap and slammed the ball comfortably past Rogers.

It looked like St Pat’s chances were dead and buried, but the home side found new confidence and new energy as Rovers laid off on the offence.

They pressured the away side quite well despite their impressive defence and eventually got what turned out to be a consolation goal.

Alex Williams made it 2-1 with an impressively struck free kick on 89 minutes to make for an interesting and certainly nail-biting stoppage time.

However it was too little too late from the Saints as they failed to break down their Dublin rival’s defence for a second time.

This defeat has allowed Shamrock Rovers to gain some ground on both St Pats and Dundalk in the title race.

Pats have now lost top spot in the league to Dundalk following a 1-0 defeat away at UCD and a two match unbeaten run for their title rivals.

ST PATRICK’S ATHLETIC – Rogers, Pender, Kenna, Guthrie, Lynch, McAllister, Byrne (Cash 63), Mulcahy, Guy (Doyle 81), Byrne (Williams 70, Faherty.

BOOKED – Faherty 23, Lynch 34, Pender 61.

SHAMROCK ROVERS – Mannus, Flynn, Price, Murray, Murphy, Kavanagh (Twigg 69), Rice, Chambers, Bayly, Dennehy (Cahill 77), Stewart (Baker 85).

ATTENDENCE – 3,400.

REFEREE – D McKeon.