St Patrick's Athletic (1) - Drogheda United (2)

St Patrick's Athletic 1 - Drogheda United 2

Drogheda United stunned title chasing St Pat's with a hugely impressive 2-1 victory over the nine-man hosts in a fiercely contested encounter.

Despite being second best for large periods, the visitors showed incredible grit and determination to earn a massive three points with big implications at either end of the table, as Warren Davis and a stunner from Dayle Rooney - either side of Chris Forrester's equaliser - proved enough to take all three points back up the M1.

Having catapulted themselves into the title race with an impressive 3-1 win over Dundalk on Friday night, the Saints knew a victory over another strong Wee County outfit would see them leapfrog Derry City into second, just three points behind leaders Shamrock Rovers.

But they were undone by one of the finest goals the league has seen.

The high-flying hosts started brightly and needed just five minutes to create the first clear cut opportunity. Sam Curtis burst down the right wing, before cutting inside and clipping an inviting cross to the back post towards Mark Doyle. The left winger did everything right to get in front of his marker but couldn't get enough purchase on his header.

Despite the dominant opening, the Saints fell behind a couple of minutes later when

Dean Lyness failed to deal with a fairly heavy back pass from skipper Joe Redmond, allowing 18-year-old Warren Davis the time to chase down the home stopper and block the attempted clearance into the net for his first league goal of his fledgling career.

Buoyed by this opener the visitors really should have doubled their lead moments later. Having won the ball back high up through good pressure from Adam Foley, the goal scorer Davis was then teed up on the edge of the area, completely unmarked, but opted for precision placing the ball into the corner only to be denied by the outstretched Lyness.

Desperate to make their game in hand count, Pat's piled on the pressure and thought they had equalised midway through the half. Jason McClelland's whipped freekick got up and over the wall but scraped the foot of the post.

One of the finds of the season for the visitors is 17-year-old stopper Andrew Wogan, who put in a starring role a few days previous keeping a clean sheet against European chasing Bohemians. And the Irish youth international was forced to make a sharp save from point blank range to deny Doyle, who had the goal at his mercy following Chris Forrester's square ball.

The home side's hero from Friday night, Tommy Lonergan, was next to pass up an opportunity failing to connect with Kian Leavy's inviting cross from the left side.

The pressure finally told just before the break when the League's top scorer, Forrester, took advantage of some loose Gary Deegan play, before poking the ball over Wogan for his 13th of the season.

Following the same pattern to the first, the home side continued to exert their dominance as the visitors had their super keeper to thank for keeping it level, yet again denying Doyle from close range.

Midway through the second half the hosts' challenge of breaking down a well organised Drogs defence became even more difficult when half time substitute Jake Mulraney received the second of his two yellow cards for a silly challenge on Rooney, having just 13 minutes earlier received his first for a wild lunge on Davis.

Kevin Doherty's charges made the man advantage pay and in some style too when Rooney stepped on to Darragh Markey's clipped ball out left, and first time from the edge of the box, smashed home the goal of the season with an incredible first time volley, silencing everyone inside Richmond Park in sheer disbelief at what they had just witnessed.

Frustration then got the better of Jon Daly's men as Sam Curtis then received his marching orders for a dangerous high challenge on Ryan Brennan with essentially the last kick of the game.

The massive away win, coupled with Cork City's hammering at Dundalk, pretty much ensures Drogheda's safety for another season while the Saints will be left to rue massive missed opportunity of pressuring the four-in-a-row title chasing Rovers.

© rte.ie

Match Report

St Patrick's Athletic 1 - Drogheda United 2

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