St Patrick’s Athletic 0
Limerick 1
LIMERICK MAINTAINED THEIR excellent league run in Dublin tonight when they inflicted a first defeat in 10 games on St Patrick’s Athletic in the Airtricity Premier Division.
Martin Russell’s men were on the back-foot for much of the game, but a sweet strike from the boot of the impressive Rory Gaffney after 51 minutes means they leapfrog Bohemians into seventh.
The Pat’s fans in attendance could have been mistaken for thinking they were watching a replay of Friday night’s clash with UCD.
Limerick showed plenty of ambition in the opening 10 minutes as had the Students, but once the champions moved out of second gear they gained control of the contest.
Just like on Friday, Christy Fagan had several excellent opportunities to score in the opening half, with Barry Ryan forcing a point-blank header over his bar just before the half hour mark.
The league’s top scorer also glanced Killian Brennan’s cross fractions wide of the post minutes later, while Chris Forrester saw his header from Byrne’s corner-kick pushed wide by Ryan.
For Limerick, Rory Gaffney led the line brilliantly, and he forced Clarke into his only real save of the first half with a low powerful strike after 30 minutes.
As the similarity gauge reached an all-time high with Friday’s game against UCD, it soon came to an abrupt halt.
Unlike against the Students, there was no goal on the stroke of half time for Liam Buckley’s men, and five minutes after the interval they were behind.
Derek Foran appeared to have dispossessed Kieran Djilali as he drove in off the right, but the ball fell kindly for Gaffney who pinged the his shot into the bottom corner from 20-yards.
Pat’s upped their game in the minutes after that, but it was Limerick and Jack Doherty who almost scored next. He drifted in from the left and rounded both Byrne and Foran before shooting at the legs of Clarke.
The champions continued to press, and Limerick dropped deeper, but Stephen Folan and Sam Oji led kept their defence tight and home support frustrated until the final whistle.
ST PATRICK’S ATHLETIC: Clarke, O’Brien (Quigley 80), Foran, Browne, Bermingham, McCormack, Fahey, Brennan (Bayly 88), Byrne, Forrester (Greene 72), Fagan. Substitutions: Gilmartin, Quigley, Grenne, Verdon, Bayly, Fitzgerald, Hoare.
LIMERICK FC: Ryan, Williams, Folan, Turner, Duggan, Gaffney, Nzuzi, Oji, Hughes, Djilali (O’Connor 80), Doherty (Tracy 75). Substitutions: Cusack, Leahy, Agyemang, McManus, O’Connor, Tracy, Mann.
Referee: Neil Doyle.
