HARRY KENNY PRAISED the character of his St Patrick’s Athletic players after they defied their numerical disadvantage to earn a 1-1 draw away to Cork City last night.
A 90th-minute equaliser from substitute Dean Clarke gave the Saints a share of the spoils at Turner’s Cross, cancelling out a first-half penalty from Graham Cummins.
The spot-kick was converted following the 34th-minute dismissal of Pat’s defender Dave Webster, who was shown a straight red card for striking Cummins off the ball in the penalty area.
City have now failed to win in their last three Premier Division outings. For Pat’s, who ended a run of three straight defeats by beating champions Dundalk last week, this was another encouraging result, particularly in the circumstances.
“We’re delighted, especially after the sending-off,” Kenny told The42 afterwards. “We played 50-odd minutes with 10 men. To come to Cork and play with 10 men for that amount of time, it’s a brilliant result for us.
“We certainly didn’t have much fortune in the first six or seven games of the season. We got a big slice of it last week with an own goal against Dundalk, although we deserved to win that game and I think we deserved a result tonight.
“We got away with it a little bit tonight in the sense that we only had 10 men, but we showed great character as well. The win last week gave us a little bit of momentum and we carried that on tonight.”
Kenny, whose side remain in fifth place in the table, had no complaints with the decision of Sean Grant to give Webster his marching orders. The referee immediately produced a red card after the incident was brought to his attention by one of his assistants.
“It was a definite red card,” admitted the Pat’s boss. “Violent conduct in the box is a red card so we have no qualms about that. It was 100% a sending-off.”
He added: “There was absolutely nothing in the game at that stage. It was a terrible, scrappy game. There was long throws, free-kicks, it was very stop-start. We regrouped after the red card, set up differently and we’re delighted with how it turned out.”
Kenny confirmed that a hamstring injury ruled Chris Forrester out of the game, but it’s hoped the attacker will be available again for Derry City’s visit to Richmond Park on Monday.
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