St Patrick's Athletic (1) - Shamrock Rovers (0)

St Patrick's Athletic 1 - Shamrock Rovers 0

St Patrick's Athletic pulled off the great escape at Richmond Park as they avoided the relegation play offs with this win over their great south Dublin rivals.

Ryan Guy headed the winner home on 39 minutes and the win coupled with Galway United's draw with Cork City means it is the Westerners who will meet Drogheda United in Tuesday's one-off game. Sligo made sure of their survival with a home win over Drogheda United.

Rovers had beaten Pat's in three league and one EA Sports Cup games already this season and the host started with the look of a side with the intent of stopping that sequence.

But as has happened many times for them this season, excellent creative chances came to nothing. One of those events came on ten minutes when Bobby Ryan swung a perfect cross into the box but there was no one there to meet it.

Rovers threatened several times early on with one of the best when Graham Barrett found Paddy Kavanagh who in turn put the ball on a plate for Gary Twigg but the Scottish hitman was forced out to the corner by the Pat's defence and the chance was lost.

Pat's then put on a good display of football making fans wonder why they didn't play like that over the previous 32 games of the campaign and Guy headed them in front on 39 minutes.

Glenn Fitzpatrick knocked the ball on to the Californian after Jason Gavin had a lash off target following a corner from the right and Guy popped up for his 6th goal of a long season in which he was playing his 45th game.

It could have been two before the break Rovers keeper Alan Mannus stopped a brilliant shot from Stuart Byrne on 45 and Guy was denied the rebound.

Pat's keeper Brendan Clarke saved from Craig Sives and Paddy Kavanagh early in the second half as Rovers pushed for an equaliser.

The Rovers wall blocked a Mark Quigley free on 58 while Mannus then made a decent save from Ryan and Fitzpatrick shot just wide on 71 as Pat's gave as much as they got.

A cracking move on 78 minutes saw Fitzpatrick feed Quigley who in turn put Guy in but Guy's shot sailed over the crossbar as Pat's dominated the closing stages and the three minutes of added time to ensure Premier Division football for 2010.

Having played 49 domestic and European games this season the Saints round off their season against Derry City in the Setanta Sports Cup on Tuesday night while Rovers have Europa League football to look forward to in Tallaght Stadium next summer.

© RTE.IE

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St Patrick's Athletic 1 - Shamrock Rovers 0

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