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Fagan celebrates the first of his double. Donall Farmer/INPHO
Saints and Winners

Christy Fagan found his scoring boots again to give Pat's a big Dublin derby win

Pat’s leapfrog their northside rivals into fourth place.

St Patrick’s Athletic 3

Bohemian FC 1

— Niall Kelly reports from Richmond Park

CHRISTY FAGAN ENDED his long drought with a derby double to send Pat’s ahead of Bohemians in the race for the European places.

An injury-hit start has prevented last season’s top scorer from matching the heights of 2014 again.

But the Pat’s marksman showed that he has still has the eye for goal with an instinctive finish in either half.

Fagan’s first league goals since early March extended another long run — one which hasn’t seen Pat’s lose to their northside rivals in their last 15 league meetings.

It moved Pat’s into fourth ahead of Bohs on goal difference and narrowed the gap to third-placed Shamrock Rovers to six points again.

The only blip on Fagan’s night came when he was presented with a glorious chance to wrap up his hat-trick but miscued with a wild swipe.

By that stage Killian Brennan had made sure of the points with a sweetly-struck free in the 69th minute, snuffing out the revival that Bohs had threatened when Derek Prendergast equalised in the first half.

His header in the 33rd minute was very much against the run of play and handed the visitors a way back into a contest that Pat’s had controlled to that point.

Chris Forrester was at the heart of the host’s most promising moves as he looked to take advantage of Bohs’ high defensive line. Marshalled by another solid evening from captain Roberto Lopes, they were able to keep Pat’s at bay until the breakthrough came in the 22nd minute.

Unsurprisingly, Forrester was involved and when his initial cross was hooked back into the Bohs box by Aaron Greene, Fagan’s radar was bang on the money. With his back to goal, he lifted the ball over his head and out of the reach of Dean Delany.

He could have had a second just three minutes later when Prendergast was caught out by another of Forrester’s searching passes. Fagan’s angle was tight though, and his shot across Delany’s goal skipped just wide at the far post.

It didn’t take long for Prendergast to make amends. The hesitant Pat’s defence failed to deal with Lorcan Fitzgerald’s free and from the resulting corner, they allowed Prendergast to muscle his way into position on the edge of the six yard box where he headed past Brendan Clarke.

Pat’s nearly retook the league shortly before the break but Forrester’s diving header hit Delany in the chest from close range, and the Bohs keeper reacted first to gather the loose ball.

Liam Buckley will have been wary of losing any further ground on Cork City and Shamrock Rovers in second and third, and Pat’s seized the initiative six minutes after the restart.

Ian Bermingham fired a brilliant volley from Killian Brennan’s corner-kick. It looked to be arrowing straight for the top corner nonetheless but Fagan was lying in wait and got enough of a touch to make sure.

Greene very nearly got in on the act but was denied by the sprawling Delany who touched his shot onto the post.

Pat’s got their third a few minutes later to make sure of the post. Forrester was fouled on the edge of the box and the angle was just right for Brennan, who left Delaney rooted to the spot with a magnificent free.

ST PAT’S: Brendan Clarke; Ger O’Brien (c, Lee Desmond, 61), Ian Bermingham, Sean Hoare, Kenny Browne, Greg Bolger, James Chambers, Killian Brennan (Conor McCormack, 79), Chris Forrester, Aaron Greene, Christy Fagan (Jamie McGrath, 75).

BOHEMIANS: Dean Delany, Lorcan Fitzgerald, Roberto Lopes (c), Derek Prendergast, Dylan Hayes (Dean Kelly, 69), Karl Moore (Jason Byrne, 75), Kealon Dillon, Adam Evans, Robbie Creevy (James O’Brien, 29), Keith Buckley, Ismahil Akinade.

Referee: Padraigh Sutton.

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