Bohemians 0
St Patrick’s Athletic 4
Conan Byrne was the star for St Patrick’s Athletic as he notched a stunning brace to help Liam Buckley’s men seal their second Dublin derby victory in under a week as they dispatched Bohemians 4-0 at Dalymount Park.
Christy Fagan had broken the deadlock late in the first-half for the visitors before Byrne sealed the 100thleague goal of his career with a wonder-strike on the stroke of half-time. Byrne added a third a minute into the restart before Kurtis Byrne rounded off the win with an injury-time volley.
The opening exchanges were lively with both Paddy Kavanagh and Dan Byrne coming close for the hosts before former Bohs forward Kurtis Byrne was denied from close range by a superb Shane Supple stop.
Indeed, it was St Pat’s who broke the deadlock on 38 minutes when Conan Byrne’s low cross found Fagan inside the area. His initial shot was blocked, however, he was quick to pounce on the rebound and rocketed the ball beyond Supple for his first goal of the season.
Then, in first-half stoppage time, Byrne, who was positioned just inside his own half, spotted Supple off his line and launched a beautiful strike which flew into the net to join the 100-goal club in style.
Barely a minute into second-half proceedings, Byrne added his second and St Pat’s third after he got on the end of a J.J. Lunney chipped through ball before neatly slotting it into the corner.
The Gypsies reacted well with their best opportunity in pulling a goal back coming in the 70th minute. Lorcan Fitzgerald squeezed his way into the box before forcing Conor O’Malley to tip a powerful strike above the frame. From the resulting corner, Rob Cornwall came close when his stooping header fell inches above the mark.
In the final few minutes of the contest, the Saints added a resounding fourth when, for the second consecutive week, Kurtis Byrne smacked a first-time volley deep into the bottom-left corner.
The win moves St Pat’s out of the relegation zone and into 9th on 6 points while Bohemians drop to 5th with their first defeat in five games.
Bohemians: Shane Supple (Greg Murray, 77); Derek Pender (c), Rob Cornwall, Dan Byrne, Lorcan Fitzgerald; Paddy Kavanagh, Georgie Poynton, Keith Ward (Phillip Gannon, 57), Oscar Brennan, Kaleem Simon; Jamie Doyle (Dean Casey, 6)
St Patrick’s Athletic: Conor O’Malley; Michael Barker, Gavin Peers, Lee Desmond, Ian Bermingham (c); Patrick Cregg, Alex O’Hanlon, J.J Lunney (Sam Verdon,90); Conan Byrne, Christy Fagan (Josh O’Hanlon, 54, (Billy Dennehy, 81)), Kurtis Byrne
Referee: Jim McKell