St Patrick’s Athletic 2
Shamrock Rovers 1
ST PATRICK’S ATHLETIC came from behind to topple 10-man Shamrock Rovers and secured their first win of the SSE Airtricty Premier Division season after an enthralling encounter at Richmond Park.
An early Gary Shaw strike was cancelled out by a thunderous Kurtis Byrne volley before Josh O’Hanlon’s glancing header gave Liam Buckley’s side a deserved three points.
The Hoops dominated the opening stages and grabbed the lead after 13 minutes. A cracking effort from distance by Sean Heaney was parried by Conor O’Malley into the path of James Doona. The youngster then threaded the ball across the six-yard box for Shaw, who easily knocked home his third goal of the season.
Rovers were handed a hammer blow 10 minutes before the break when Heaney was dismissed after he picked up a second yellow card in the short space of five minutes following a reckless lunge on Conan Byrne.
The Saints began to pick up the pace and on 42 minutes almost tied up proceedings when Conan Byrne’s free-kick from range was remarkably pushed around the post by Tomer Chencinski in what was an excellent stop.
Buckley’s men mounted the pressure on their visitors from the restart and found their equaliser on 58 minutes. JJ Lunney clipped a delightful ball into the area, which substitute Kurtis Byrne met with a stunning volley that rifled into the top of the net.
On 76 minutes, Pat’s went in front, when Conan Byrne’s whipped corner was met by the head of O’Hanlon, who had remarkably only entered the field 30 seconds prior.
Athletic looked in control for the remainder of the closing stages and saw out the victory to the delight of the raucous home support.
The win lifts St Pat’s off the foot of the table and up to 10th on four points, while Shamrock Rovers drop to seventh on six points, as they have now lost four of their opening six games.
St Patrick’s Athletic: Conor O’Malley; Michael Barker, Gavin Peers, Lee Desmond, Ian Bermingham (c); Patrick Cregg, Graham Kelly (Kurtis Byrne, 56), J.J Lunney (Darragh Markey, 71); Conan Byrne, Christy Fagan(Josh O’Hanlon, 75), Alex O’Hanlon
Shamrock Rovers: Tomer Chencinski, Simon Madden, Daniel Devine, David Webster, Sean Heaney; Roberto Lopes, Ronan Finn (c), James Doona (David McAllister, 38), Darren Meenan (Sam Bone, 46), Graham Burke; Gary Shaw (Sean Boyd, 67)
Referee: Paul McLaughlin