St. Patrick’s Athletic 1

Galway United 1

Darryl Geraghty reports from Richmond Park

ST. PATRICK’S ATHLETIC and Galway United played out a feisty draw in front of a raucous Richmond crowd with David Hurley’s dramatic second-half cameo providing an enthralling theme.

The substitute gave his side the lead from the spot, before the excellent Jason McClelland levelled shortly after, as Hurley saw red with just seconds to go.

Both sides could be forgiven for being sick of the sight of each other having gone 120 minutes in a dramatic, energy sapping FAI cup quarter final on the Sunday previous in which the Saints went marching on, and certainly had that undercurrent throughout.

But with revenge coursing through their veins and desperation to avoid a potential dreaded relegation / promotion play-off, John Caulfield’s charges were always going to prove a tough nut to crack. 

Roared on by a former FAI Cup winning Saint’s boss in the dugout in the shape of Jon Daly, the visitors who went closest in the early on. Patrick Hickey was sharp latching onto Luke Turner’s slack backpass. The American attacker was swiftly met by Saints stopper Joseph Anang who got a toe to the ball as Hickey tried to lift the ball past.

This seemed to wake up the hosts, who began to click into gear with the pace of starboy Mason Melia, Simon Power and Jake Mulraney beginning to cause problems.

Initially Melia was denied brilliantly by the experienced Brendan Clarke, 23-years his senior, as he stood big to deny the Irish under-21 International who raced through on goal.

Moments later Mulrany’s whipped strike, having cut inside front he right, narrowly missed the bottom corner and just before the break Melia and Clarke renewed rivalries.

The 17-year-old teen sensation made a clever run from the left in behind the Tribesman defence to pick up Leavy’s cleverly weighted through ball. Having kept his head to round Clarke, Melia undercooked his shot allowing Garry Buckley to get back and bundle the ball wide.

The home side started the second half quickly, spurning two good chances before the visitors got their noses in front. Having failed to deal with a couple of dangerous corners, Chris Forrester conceded a penalty when he slid to clear but caught Hurley who tried to ride the challenge.

Hurley made no mistake from 12-yards but his side’s joy was short lived when McClelland smashed a terrific low shot across goal that found the bottom corner.

With minutes remaining the visitors were incensed when they thought they took the lead only to see Pat Hickey’s goal ruled out for what they saw as a soft challenge on Anang who missed his punch.

Tempers frayed on the final whistle as Hurley then received a straight red for a lunge on Kian Leavy, leading to both sets of players going head-to-head and being forced to share the spoils.

St. Patrick’s Athletic: Joseph Anang; Carl Axel Sjoberg, Joe Redmond, Luke Turner, Jason McClelland;  Jamie Lennon, Chris Forrester (Barry Baggley, 84’); Jake Mulraney (Brandon Kavanagh, 70’), Kian Leavy, Simon Power (Jordan Garrick, 70’); Mason Melia (Conor Carty, 84’)

Galway United: Brendan Clarke; Jeannot Esua, Garry Buckley, Rob Slevin, Robert Burns (Colm Horgan, 90+4); Jeremy Sivi (Ed McCarthy, 32’), Axel Piesold (David Hurley, 46’), Aaron Bolger, Jimmy Keohane; Patrick Hickey, Dara McGuinness (Stephen Walsh, 81’)

Referee: Rob Harvey