DANNY NORTH’S penalty on 56 minutes sent St Patrick’s Athletic to the summit of the Premier Division table. With Shamrock Rovers losing to Sligo Rovers, the Inchicore side move two points ahead of their Dublin rivals, with the sides set to meet tomorrow week in Tallaght.

The breakthrough came for St Patrick’s when referee Neil Doyle sent off Adam Mitchell in the 54th minute for handball in the area and pointed to the spot, with North making no mistake 12 yards.

Bray had bossed the opening stages of this encounter with John Mulroy causing early trouble for St Patrick’s goalkeeper Gary Rogers. Then a good Bray move on 15 minutes saw the ball worked from defence up to the edge of the St Patricks box, with the excellent Joe Kendrick amongst those helping it on its way. The ball arrived at the feet of Daire Doyle who played it low across the box. Mulroy was at the far side but Rogers dashed out to save.

St Patrick’s were sluggish from the start and their best chance of the opening half came on 40 minutes when Daryl Kavanagh unleashed a thundering long range shot that brought out a fine save from Wanderers goalkeeper Matt Gregg.

St Patrick’s had a much better start to the second-half with Derek Doyle heading Anto Murphys cross wide. But the turning point in the game came with the sending off and North sent his penalty low into the bottom corner.

Next Fixture

Derry City / April 22nd @ 7:45pm
Competition: League
Venue: Ryan McBride Brandywell Stadium
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Team	Pld	Pts
Shelbourne	11	21
Bohemian FC	11	19
Shamrock Rovers	10	18
Derry City	11	16
St Patrick's Athletic	11	15
Galway United FC	10	14
Sligo Rovers	10	13
Waterford FC	11	13
Drogheda United	10	8
Dundalk	11	5