Under21
- Saturday August 6th, 2005 @ 0:00
St Pats U21's 1 - Shamrock R. U21's 0
A Robbie Smith goal in the last minute of the first half was enough to secure all 3 points for the Saints in a tight affair this afternoon in Richmond Park.
It was Smith's fourth goal in as many games and it gave Paul Osam his second win from two games as Under 21 manager.
The opening phases were tight with little clear cut chances and it was Rovers who worked the goalkeeper first. A corner from the right was latched onto by Keith O'Halloran and his shot was saved spectacularly by the right foot of Brendan Clarke.
The Saints then took control but shots from Luke Fitzpatrick and Christy Doran failed to trouble the Rovers goals.
The breakthrough came just before the half-time whistle. Doran and Michael Foley combined well down the left before Foleys low cross found its way to the 6 yard line. Smith got in in front of the Rovers centre half and put the ball away in the far corner with a typical finish to score what turned out to be the winning goal.
After the break was a similar affair to the first with few opportunities for both sides. Michael Foley had the ball in the net on 61 minutes having been played through by substitute Caolan Fitzsimons but the linesman's flag kept the score at 1-0.
Another substitute, Paul Olima brought a great save out of the Rovers goalkeeper with 2 minutes to go when his header seemed destined for the far corner of the net but the score was to remain the same to give the Saints their second one nil win in a week.
St Pats: Clarke; McMahon, O'Shea, Sargeant, Bell; Fitzpatrick (Olima), Hayden, Reilly (Doyle G.), Doran (Fitzsimons); Foley M., Smith.
