St Patrick's Athletic vs Finn HarpsNewly promoted Finn Harps frustrated St Patrick's Athletic at Richmond Park to earn their second big point in four days. In a poor spectacle of a game on a cool night by the Camac, St Patrick's struggled to break down Ollie Horgan's side whose dogged defence saw them deserving of a draw. With two changes from their opening two games as Ciaran Kelly and Gary Shaw came in for skipper Ian Bermingham and Chris Forrester, St Pat's enjoyed plenty of good early possession. But it was 11 minutes before they posed a real threat to the Harps' goal when a Mikey Drennan free kick won them a third corner of the game courtesy of Peter Burke's clumsy save. Dave Webster planted his header from Rhys McCabe's delivery over the top. Midfielder Kelly should then have done better on 22 minutes, volleying wide from Drennan's lay-off down off a McCabe free kick as the home side probed for openings. Fresh from their creditable draw with champions Dundalk on Friday, Harps were well-organised with Niall McGinley coming into their midfield in Horgan's only change. And with a good shape to them, the Donegal side showed plenty of energy as they stifled Saints, getting their first sight of goal just past the half hour. Front two Nathan Boyle and Sean Boyd combined with the latter's drive being deflected out for a corner off Saints' defender Kevin Toner. Defending well themselves at the other end, Harps continued to frustrate St Pat's. Drennan and Shaw worked a 34th minute opening for McCabe, but the midfielder got under his drive from distance to see it sail over the top of Burke's crossbar. The start of the second half brought an ironic cheer from the 1,747 crowd when match the officials appeared with a change from their yellow shirts, which had clashed with Harps' strip, to black. There were then gasps from the home fans four minutes in as Drennan turned well to blast a left-foot drive narrowly wide as Saints upped the tempo. But the home side had a scare within three minutes, Webster getting his body in the way to block a shot from Boyd. Boyd was then there again to send a glancing header wide across goal from a Mark Coyle corner. St Pat's brought on Brandon Miele and Forrester to try to liven up their attack. But chances remained at a premium. A clever Conor Clifford ball found the run of Drennan down the inside right channel on 72 minutes. The striker shot into the side-netting to just about sum up St Pat's night. Harps might then have snatched it in stoppage time, but Daniel O'Reilly's powerful head from a Caolan McAleer corner was straight at Brendan Clarke in the home goal. © rte.ie
