St Pat’s 1
Derry City 0
Brendan Graham reports from Richmond Park
ST PAT’S SCRAPPED their way to a narrow 1-0 victory over Derry City this evening in front of a crowd of just 1,070 at Richmond Park.
The first chance of the game fell to St Pat’s striker Gary Shaw inside just two minutes. Simon Madden weaved his way past Ciaran Coll with ease before finding Shaw with his cross but the striker directed his header just clear of the bar.
The next chance of the game wasn’t enjoyed until roughly ten minutes later with both doctors busy in the opening stages of the game. Ciaran Kelly and Greg Sloggett had to receive treatment after a nasty clash in the middle of the pitch before goalkeeper Brendan Clarke needed lengthy treatment minutes later having collided with the post making a save.
Simon Madden with his roving runs down the right, as always, was causing serious problems for Derry and he did well with his cross to find Drennan unmarked after fifteen minutes but Drennan couldn’t get the necessary power on his header and made it an easy save for Peter Cherrie.
Derry’s first real chance of the half came on the 20th-minute mark when Gerardo Bruna connected well having received the ball just on the edge of the box. It was well on target but came off the boot of Ciaran Kelly on the way towards goal and out for a corner.
Minutes later and St Pat’s took a deserved lead. In an even enough game they had the better of the chances in the opening stages of the first half and went 1-0 in front from a Kevin Toner header.
Greg Sloggett was over at the dugout receiving treatment for his earlier injury but the referee still allowed the corner to be taken with Mikey Drennan finding Toner completely unmarked at the back post to give the Saints the lead.
The chances for the remainder of the half were few and far between with Derry City failing to register a single shot on target in the opening half and St Pat’s not as intense with their play as they were before the goal.
It was a very slow and sleepy start to the second half with Declan Devine introducing Barry McNamee in an effort to try and increase his sides creativity and joy in front of goal.
Their possession of the ball increased with McNamee involved but their ability to create any chances in front of goal was still lacking as they looked to get themselves back level.
Derry should have been level on 68 minutes with Barry McNamee showing his create flair and playing a sublime ball through the middle of the St. Pats defence for Junior Ogedi-Uzokwe to run onto. Ogedi-Uzokwe managed to get his shot away and past Clarke but his shot hit the butt of the post and away from danger.
Derry improved significantly as the second half wore on enjoying all of the possession probing away in midfield as they tried their very best to find their goal but to their credit the St. Pats back three continued to do a solid job at the back for the home side.
With just 10 minutes left, St. Pats had their first chance of the second half and a great chance to put the game to bed. Another strong Simon Madden cross landed at the feet of Rhys McCabe who got his shot away but well off target.
Harry Kenny’s side were really under pressure and holding on as the game entered the final few minutes. Ogedi – Uzokwe with a number of fantastic chances to equalise for the away side.
Coll landed a great cross straight onto his head close to goal but somehow he managed to direct his header wide of the post when all he really had to do was make connection.
The impressive Ciaran Kelly then denied Barry McNamee from finding himself one on one with Clarke showing great defending and timing his tackle perfectly to sweep the ball away from McNamee at the last second.
St Pat’s managed to see out the final three minutes of added time to hang on to the three points and a 1-0 victory over Derry in the end.
St Pat’s: Brendan Clarke; David Webster, Ian Bermingham, Kevin Toner, Simon Madden; Darragh Markey (Jake Walker 73), Ciaran Kelly, Jamie Lennon, Rhys McCabe; Gary Shaw (Chris Forrester 65), Mikey Drennan (James Doona 86)
Derry City: Peter Cherrie; Darren Cole (Josh Kerr 38), Ciaran Coll, Eoin Toal, Conor McDermott (Jamie McDonagh 64); Ciaron Harkin, Aidy Delap, Greg Sloggett, Gerardo Bruna; Junior Ogedi-Uzokwe, David Parkhouse (Barry McNamee 50)
Attendance: 1070.
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