St. Patricks Athletic 2-1 Cork City
SAINT PATRICKS ATHLETIC may have left it late to beat Cork City but all three points were just about deserved for the Inchicore side.
In a scrappy first half, Anto Flood had the best chance for the visitors but his header, on the back of a great ball in from Conan Byrne, was well saved by the Cork ‘keeper and, from the resulting corner, Greg Bolger’s half-chance sailed over the bar.
Pats had the best of the first half but, despite the best efforts of Flood and Killian Brennan, the home side just couldn’t make the breakthrough.
Cork got their second half off to the worst possible start when Kalen Spillane appeared to headbutt Flood, an action for which he promptly received a red card.
The sending off seemed to open up the game and, completely against the run of play, Cork took the lead just a few minutes later, Kilduff latching on to a long ball after 59 minutes and finishing calmly from close range.
Not to be denied, Pats equalised three minutes later through thanks to a wonderfully taken goal from Flood on the edge of the area, much to the delight of the Inchicore crowd.
Both sides created a few half chances and the game livened up but it wasn’t until injury time, when Ciaran Kilduff dragged down Killian Brennan in the box, that the game swung back in favour of the home side, the Drogheda native calmly slotting home from the spot with virtually the last kick of the game.
UCD 1-2 Shelbourne
Craig Walsh opened the scoring for UCD with a brilliant goal after 17 minutes as they looked to follow up their away draw with Shamrock Rovers last week with win over fellow strugglers Shelbourne in their relegation six pointer in Belfield.
However, UCD’s cause wasn’t helped when Mark Langtry picked up a red card near the end of the first half and Shelbourne made them pay with a Sean Brennan goal just before the break.
Things got even worse for UCD when Dean Kelly gave Shels a 2-1 after 53 minutes and James Kavanagh picked up their second yellow of the game just two minutes later.
The result means Shelbourne move off the foot of the table and move into 9th place on 19 points.
Bohemians 1-1 Drogheda United
There was little in the way of goalmouth action in the early stages of this game and five yellow cards in the opening half show it was a tense affair between two sides desperate for points.
It was the visitors who took the lead when Alan Byrne found the net 20 minutes in to the second half. It looked like it would stay that way too until Roberto Lopes found the net for Bohs with just two minutes remaining.
The result sees the home side prop up the table on 18 points, one behind Bray, UCD and Shelbourne.
Dundalk 1-0 Bray Wanderers
Dundalk started the better of the two sides in Oriel Park with Andy Boyle and Richie Towell going close for the home team in the early stages.
Indeed, the deadlock wasn’t broken until two minutes in to the second half when Kurtis Byrne opened the scoring for Dundalk and the home side held out for the win to remain in second place in the Airtricity league.
