St Patrick’s Athletic 2
Finn Harps 0
Dave Donnelly reports from Richmond Park
EOIN DOYLE scored twice as St Patrick’s Athletic wore down a dogged Finn Harps to take all three points at Richmond.
The striker doubled his tally for the season with a well-taken header late in the first half before scoring from the spot after the restart.
Saints remain seven points behind Derry City in third position ahead of the Candystripes’ visit to Inchicore next week.
The game didn’t quite have the drama of Harps’ last visit to Dublin when Mark Timlin scored deep in injury time against Bohemians to earn nine-man Harps a point.
A string of top-class saves from Harps keeper Mark McGinley had kept Ollie Horgan’s side in the game during a one-sided first half but eventually the dam burst.
The former UCD keeper pulled off a stunning acrobatic save to deny Ben McCormack inside the opening 10 minutes and he’d have plenty more work to do.
Ethan Boyle, a rock at centre half for Harps, threw himself in the way of McCormack’s shot moments later after good interplay between James Abankwah and Darragh Burns.
McGinley couldn’t hold a Burns shot moments later and Doyle looked set to turn home the loose ball but Regan Donelon did enough to put him off.
Teenager McCormack was pulling the strings for Pat’s and he picked out Burns with a lovely cross, which McGinley saved, before he teed up Doyle to test the keeper again.
McGinley could do little about the opening goal seven minutes before the break as Billy King dug out a fine cross and Doyle arrowed his header back across him into the bottom corner.
Doyle made it two from the penalty spot just before the hour after Boyle was somewhat harshly adjudged to have pulled down Joe Redmond in the box.
Harps introduced Yoyo Mahdy and Jesse Devers as they took on a more attacking shape and it began to yield chances.
Donelon was denied by a desperate Tom Grivosti block just past the hour before Joseph Anang pulled off a top-class save to deny Mahdy after he’d wriggled free in the box.
The visitors ran out of steam in the latter stages and Doyle could have sealed his hat-trick on the break in injury time, only to curl his shot inches wide of the post.
St Patrick’s Athletic: Joseph Anang; James Abankwah (Jack Scott 46), Tom Grivosti (Ian Bermingham 82), Joe Redmond, Anto Breslin; Adam O’Reilly, Chris Forrester, Ben McCormack (Rónán Coughlan 78); Darragh Burns (Jay McClelland 76), Billy King (Mark Doyle 76), Eoin Doyle.
Finn Harps: Mark McGinley; Ryan Rainey, Ethan Boyle, Rob Slevin, Regan Donelon; Elie-Gael N’zeyi, Bastien Héry (Mark Timlin 49), Barry McNamee (Luke Rudden 82); Eric McWoods (Yoyo Mahdy 66), Jose Carrillo (Jesse Devers 66), Filip Mihaljovic.
Referee: Adriano Reale (Kildare).