St Patrick’s Athletic 2
Drogheda United 0
ST PATRICK’S ATHLETIC lifted themselves off the foot of the SSE Airtricity League of Ireland Premier Division table after a rampant display saw them steamroll past Drogheda United at Richmond Park.
An expert volley from Ian Bermingham and a superb Kurtis Byrne strike gave Liam Buckley’s side the 2-0 win and a vital three points.
Pat’s began with a flourish and on seven minutes, as they had the Drogheda net bulging.
Conan Byrne’s perfectly planted ball found Bermingham in acres of space inside the area. The Saints skipper then demonstrated beautiful technique to smash a first-time volley deep into the bottom-right corner.
Pat’s continued to pile the pressure on United’s defence with chances being created in abundance — Darragh Markey, Kurtis Byrne and Christy Fagan all forced Stephen McGuinness into a sequence of fine saves inside 20 minutes.
On the half-hour mark, Pat’s were almost left to rue their near-misses when, after a rare Drogheda attack, Gareth McCaffrey guided a ball into Marc Griffin. His unorthodox header almost beat Conor O’Malley, only for the young shot stopper to claw it into his grasp.
On the stroke of half-time, Kurtis Byrne expertly controlled a lofted ball before powering a seemingly unstoppable shot onto the target. However, McGuinness threw his body in the way to divert it over the bar with a marvellous stop, which ensured the deficit was kept to one going into the break.
Buckley’s men picked up immediately where they left off and found their second on 47 minutes. Markey threaded the ball through to Kurtis Byrne, who set himself up nicely before fizzing it into the net for his fifth goal of the season.
Just before the hour mark, Drogheda thought they had found a way back into the game after Jake Hyland appeared to be taken down just inside the area by O’Malley. However, play was waved on to the dismay of The Boynesiders.
For the remaining minutes, Pat’s rarely looked threatened and comfortably saw out a win, which pushes them out of the relegation zone and up to eighth on 13 points. Drogheda, meanwhile, remain seventh, a point above the Saints.
St Patrick’s Athletic: Conor O’Malley; Michael Barker, Gavin Peers, Lee Desmond, Ian Bermingham; Graham Kelly (Patrick Cregg, 79), Rory Feely, Darragh Markey; Conan Byrne (Alex O’Hanlon, 40), Christy Fagan (Billy Dennehy, 87) , Kurtis Byrne
Drogheda United: Stephen McGuinness; Shane Elworthy, Luke Gallagher, Ciaran McGuigan, Conor Kane: Thomas Byrne (Stephen Dunne, 88), Richie Purdy, Jake Hyland, Killian Brennan (Sean Brennan, 69), Gareth McCaffrey (Mark Doyle, 70); Marc Griffin
Referee: Anthony Buttimer
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