St Patrick’s Athletic 0

Bohemians 1

Paul Buttner reports from Richmond Park

AN 85th-minute penalty from captain Jordan Flores gave Bohemians all three points from this Dublin derby before a sellout 5,013 attendance at Richmond Park.

But the chief talking point will centre on Bohemians defender Cian Byrne being struck by a flare thrown by his club’s own fans.

The unsavoury incident came just a minute into the second half when St Patrick’s were attacking the visitors’ end.

A barrage of flares rained down on the pitch from the Gypsies’ supporters behind the goal, one striking Byrne on his upper left arm.

The game was held up for some five minutes by referee Rob Hennessy, allowing Byrne to have his arm bandaged, while the goalmouth was cleared of the debris.

It overshadowed what had been up until then an intriguing tussle with St Pat’s enjoyed much of the ball, if scoring chances were at a premium.

St Patrick’s came close to breaking the deadlock on 76 minutes, the lively Kian Leavy working a one-two with Ruairi Keating on the right and just unable to apply the finish from the cross.

An uncharacteristic mistake by St Pat’s captain Joe Redmond then led to the game’s only goal.

His back pass fell short resulting in Brazilian goalkeeper Marcelo Pitaluga tripping the onrushing Dayne Rooney.

Pitaluga was booked before Flores sent him the wrong way to emphatically score from the spot.

Unchanged from their win in Galway last week, St Pat’s had taken the game to Bohemians from the opening whistle.

With less than a minute on the clock, Leavy showed tenacity and no little skill to outmuscle both Adam McDonnell and Brian McManus before driving a shot inches over Kacper Chorazka’s crossbar.

Having survived that early scare, Bohemians played their way into the game to enjoy a spell of the ball.

James Clarke, whose stoppage-time equaliser got them out of jail against Sligo Rovers last week, teed up a shot that was bravely blocked by Redmond.

But it was Chorazka who was the first goalkeeper to see action, adjusting his feet smartly to collect an audacious chip from St Patrick’s midfielder Chris Forrester.

Chorazka then showed good footwork to keep the home side out on 25 minutes following an incisive move from the back. Jake Mulraney threaded a pass through for the run of Ruairi Keating whose low drive was saved by the feet of the Polish goalkeeper.

Forrester then worked another sight of goal minutes later when slipping past McDonnell to curl a left-foot effort wide of a post.

Upping the pressure as half-time approached, St Patrick’s forced a couple of corners to no avail as Bohemians scrambled the ball to safety.

In their clearest chance of the opening half, Bohemians might then have snatched the lead in added time.

Breaking from a corner, James Clarke gave Dylan Connolly an opportunity to stretch the home defence, which he duly did only to shoot wide of goal when he really should have found the target.

St Patrick’s Athletic: Pitaluga; Redmond, Keeley (B. Kavanagh, 73), Turner; Sjoberg (Freeman, 87), Lennon (C. Kavanagh, 87), Forrester, Breslin; Mulraney (Melia, 78), Leavy (McClelland, 78); Keating.

Bohemians: Chorazka; Lilander, Byrne, Flores, Kirk; McDonnell (Miller, 64), McManus; Connolly (Grant, 64), Clarke, Rooney (McDaid, 85); Reinkort (Piszczek, 71).

Referee: Rob Hennessy (Clare).