St Patrick’s Athletic 1
Bohemians 3
Harry Manning reports from Richmond Park.
A SECOND-HALF resurgence from Bohemians ensured Keith Long’s side powered past St Patrick’s Athletic at Richmond Park in the SSE Airtricity League of Ireland Premier Division.
A tidy Alex O’Hanlon finish had given Liam Buckley’s men the initiative at half-time, however, their defence crumbled in the second period, allowing Oscar Brennan, Dinny Corcoran and Georgie Poynton to fire The Gypsies to the full three-points.
The opening period was more lacklustre than blockbuster with both sides struggling to stamp their authority onto the game.
The first real chance of proceedings fell on 25 minutes when Conan Byrne squirmed his way into the box from the right flank before firing a shot just wide of Shane Supple’s far post.
The Saints began to take control and deservedly broke the deadlock five minutes before the break.
O’Hanlon received the ball at the cusp of the area before displaying clever feet to step inside Derek Pender.
The 20-year-old then curled a beautiful finish deep into the bottom-right corner for his first league goal since signing from Liverpool last January.
The Gypsies came out of the second-half blocks racing and had the game tied up just six minutes into the restart.
Some sloppy Saints defending allowed Brennan to latch onto a long ball and slip clean through on goal before safely dispatching it beyond Conor O’Malley.
On 64 minutes Byrne saw a free-kick caught by Supple who was quick to release Keith Ward. Ward picked out Corcoran who confidently stroked the ball into the net to cap off a wonderful counter-attacking move and give Keith Long’s men the all-important advantage.
With 78 minutes played Christy Fagan had a glorious opportunity to pull his side level when he got on the end of a whipped cross, however, his header flashed just wide of the mark.
However, with four minutes remaining, Ward again was the architect of a rapid counter-attack as he picked out Poynton who slotted past O’Malley to wrap up the victory.
Bohemians remain mid-table in 7th place, however, the win puts 7 points between them and the drop-zone. St Pat’s meanwhile, find themselves second-from-bottom and are firmly embedded in relegation trouble.
St Patrick’s Athletic: Conor O’Malley; Graham Kelly, Lee Desmond, Rory Feely, Ian Bermingham (c); Darragh Markey (Jack Bayly, 85), Sam Verdon (Aidan Keena, 75), J.J Lunney; Conan Byrne, Christy Fagan, Kurtis Byrne (Alex O’Hanlon, 21)
Bohemians: Shane Supple; Derek Pender (c), Rob Cornwall (Warren O’Hora, 76), Dan Byrne, Ian Morris; Georgie Poynton, Oscar Brennan, Fuad Sule (Phillip Gannon, 68), Kaleem Simon (Paddy Kavanagh, 46); Keith Ward; Dinny Corcoran
Referee: Neil Doyle.
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