Finn Harps 0

St Patrick’s Athletic 2

Alan Foley reports from Finn Park

FINN HARPS FAILED suffered a record 10th successive league defeat as St Patrick’s Athletic won in Ballybofey with goals from Conor Clifford and Mikey Drennan.

As plenty from either side jostled for position inside a crowded penalty area on 35 minutes, Conor Clifford hung unattended at the edge of the box and, having been located by Rhys McCabe’s corner kick, had time to steady himself and pierce a shot low into Peter Burke’s bottom corner.

Only eight minutes beforehand, Clifford had a similar effort – although this time from a free-kick tapped his way by McCabe – and struck the shot every bit as cleanly, only to be denied as the ball struck the butt of the post.

Harps, who have picked up just two league points this season, were the closest to scoring before that.

Caolan McAleer cut inside from the left on 22 minutes and his curler clipped the top of Brendan Clarke’s crossbar on its way over on front of the 659 in the north-western sunshine.

Then, on 69 minutes, referee Robert Rogers awarded a penalty to the Dublin team when John Kavanagh grabbed a hold of Gary Shaw. Paul Hegarty, the Finn Harps assistant manager, was sent off in protest before Drennan drilled home from 12 yards.

Harps have now lost 10 league matches on the bounce – an unwanted club record. The second St Pat’s goal certainly knocked the stuffing out of them. Tony McNamee let fly from 20 yards only to see his shot fly over, as did Kavanagh in the latter stages.

Finn Harps: Peter Burke; John Kavanagh, Keith Cowan, Sam Todd, Mark Russell; Mark Coyle (Jacob Borg 83); Caolan McAleer, Tony McNamee, Raffaele Cretaro (Michael Gallagher 79), Nathan Boyle (Mikey Place 60); Sean Boyd.

St Patrick’s Athletic: Brendan Clarke; Simon Madden, Kevin Toner, Ciaran Kelly, Ian Bermingham; Conor Clifford, Lee Desmond, Rhys McCabe; Gary Shaw (Dean Clarke 89), Mikey Drennan, Chris Forrester (Cian Coleman 79).

Referee: Rob Rogers

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