St Patrick’s Athletic 3
Sligo Rovers 0
Paul Buttner reports from Richmond Park
LUKE TURNER scored twice from right-back to get St Patrick’s Athletic’s season back on the right track at Richmond Park.
Nominally a centre-back, the 21-year-old slotted in on the right of Saints’ back four in the absence of Kieran Freeman and Axel Sjoberg.
But he did his most telling work at the other end of the pitch, shooting Saints ahead early on and then heading a second before the interval.
It was a welcome third win of the season for Jon Daly’s side who jumped from third bottom to sixth in the table.
Defeat ended a sluggish Sligo’s four-match run unbeaten though they remain second.
Of more concern for Rovers’ manager John Russell will be the welfare of his New Zealand defender Nando Pijnaker who needed extensive treatment on the pitch following a collision with his own goalkeeper Ed McGinty before being taken off on a stretch.
St Pat’s started brightly and were ahead on 10 minutes.
Conor Keeley headed Jake Mulraney’s corner back for fellow defender Turner who drilled his right-foot shot to the net for his first goal for the club.
Alex Nolan forced McGinty to tip his shot onto the crossbar while Ruairi Keating shot into the side netting from an acute angle before St Pat’s did double their lead on 42 minutes.
Substitute Brandon Kavanagh’s corner found the run of Turner at the back post and he outmanoeuvred Rovers’ skipper Niall Morahan to score with a diving header.
It really should have been 3-0 within three minutes of the restart.
Oliver Denham misjudged a long clearance from Keeley to put Keating through on goal.
But with only McGinty to beat, the striker sliced his shot pitifully wide.
The game was then held up for some eight minutes following Pijnaker’s injury after a nasty collision with McGinty.
Dominant St Pat’s added to their winning margin on 86 minutes through 16-year-old substitute Mason Melia, who curled a superb shot home from outside the box.
St Patrick’s Athletic: Rogers; Turner, Redmond, Keeley, Breslin; Lennon, Bolger (McClelland, 90+2); Nolan (Melia, 77), Leavy (Forrester, 77), Mulraney (B. Kavanagh, 29); Keating (C. Kavanagh, 90+2).
Sligo Rovers: McGinty (Brush, 82); Wiggett (Waweru, h-t), Denham, Pijnaker (Reynolds, 72), Hutchinson; Malley, Morahan; Hartmann (Radosavljevic, 82), Chapman, Fitzgerald; Mata (Smit, 60).
Referee: Paul Norton (Dublin).
Attendance: 3,825