Match Preview

St Patrick's Athletic vs Shamrock Rovers

St Patrick's Athletic put their disappointing league form behind them as they defeated Dublin rivals Shamrock Rovers 2-1 in tonight's Irish Daily Mail FAI Cup second round clash at Richmond Park.

After failing to impose themselves in the opening quarter, the Saints took control of affairs with Conan Byrne opening the scoring in the 32nd minute before Jason McGuinness headed home a second five minutes later.

Michael Drennan struck the crossbar for Rovers in the 47th minute and although substitute Gary McCabe offered late hope with a free-kick in the 84th minute, St Pat's held on for an equally deserved and crucial success.

With both sides struggling to keep tabs on Dundalk at the summit of the league table, the importance of the fixture became even more pronounced with nerves especially evident in the initial stages.

From some hesitant home defending in the second minute, Drennan found himself through on goal but a poor touch was followed by a skewed shot that veered wide of the upright.

The visitors continued to impress and another opportunity arrived six minutes later with Ryan Brennan heading wastefully over the bar from six yards following Keith Fahey's precise free-kick.

The Saints gradually began to find their feet with Gavin Brennan making a crucial intervention to prevent Ian Bermingham from meeting Aaron Greene's inviting cross in the 14th minute.

From the resultant corner-kick, Sean Hoare was unfortunate to see his flicked attempt rebound to safety off a plethora of defenders on the line.

However, it was the Hoops who looked the more composed outfit with Simon Madden a more than willing outlet on their right-flank but they lacked incision to take advantage of their control in terms of possession and territory.

Three bookings inside four minutes ensured the vibrancy of the tie remained constant but a lack of goal threats between two teams short on confidence helped ensure a stalemate of sorts.

All that changed in the space of five disastrous minutes for Rovers as they conceded twice with the visitors architects of their own downfall on both occasions.

In the 32nd minute, a sloppy pass from Patrick Cregg was seized upon by Byrne and the hosts' top scorer capitalised superbly with a curling effort low to Craig Hyland's left from twenty yards.

Within five minutes, the home lead was doubled as McGuinness rose highest to head home Byrne's corner-kick, albeit after some poor handling by Hyland at his near post.

With confidence restored after those two strikes, St Pat's looked far more assured from that point as they entered the break two goals to the good.

Rovers reacted by introducing both Stephen McPhail and Marty Waters at the interval and that adventurous switch almost paid instant dividends as Drennan headed against the crossbar in the 47th minute from Madden's excellent cross.

However, their more attacking policy left gaps at the back and a minute later Greene raced unopposed from deep to eventually have his unconvincing attempt from eight yards blocked by Hyland.

Waters was already proving himself a nuisance for the home defence and a fine pass placed Drennan clear in the inside-left channel but his resultant shot nestled in the side-netting.

The ebb and flow was maintained with the hosts content to absorb pressure and they came close to extending their lead through successive efforts by Byrne and Chris Forrester.

Greene should have booked the hosts' berth in the third round with Hyland racing bravely from his goal to block in the 79th minute and that miss looked doubly costly as McCabe fired a sumptuous free-kick past Brendan Clarke from the edge of the area.

The visitors piled on the pressure for the ensuing ten minutes but a home defence, superbly marshalled by Hoare, withstood the onslaught to confirm the precious win.

For St Pat's, it proved a highly satisfactory victory given their travails in the league while for their opponents, the long wait will continue for another year at least with Rovers last having won the Cup back in 1987.

© rte.ie

Date	Competition	Home Team		Away Team
April, 5th 2024	League	St Patrick's Athletic	2	Shamrock Rovers	1	REPORT
April, 1st 2024	League	St Patrick's Athletic	3	Sligo Rovers	0	REPORT
March, 15th 2024	League	St Patrick's Athletic	1	Shelbourne	2	REPORT
March, 8th 2024	League	St Patrick's Athletic	1	Dundalk	0	REPORT
February, 23rd 2024	League	St Patrick's Athletic	0	Bohemians	1	REPORT
October, 27th 2023	League	St Patrick's Athletic	0	Shamrock Rovers	2	REPORT
October, 23rd 2023	League	St Patrick's Athletic	1	Sligo Rovers	0	REPORT
September, 25th 2023	League	St Patrick's Athletic	1	Drogheda United	2	REPORT
September, 22nd 2023	League	St Patrick's Athletic	3	Dundalk	1	REPORT
September, 9th 2023	Friendly	St Patrick's Athletic XI	0	LOI XI	0	REPORT

Date	Competition	Home Team		Away Team
April, 12th 2024	League	Dundalk	0	St Patrick's Athletic	0	REPORT
March, 29th 2024	League	Drogheda United	0	St Patrick's Athletic	0	REPORT
March, 20th 2024	Friendly	Minnesota United	1	St Patrick's Athletic	0	REPORT
March, 4th 2024	League	Waterford	3	St Patrick's Athletic	1	REPORT
March, 1st 2024	League	Derry City	2	St Patrick's Athletic	1	REPORT
February, 16th 2024	League	Galway United	0	St Patrick's Athletic	1	REPORT
February, 9th 2024	PresidentsCup	Shamrock Rovers	3	St Patrick's Athletic	1	REPORT
February, 3rd 2024	LeinsterSnrCup	St Mochtas	2	St Patrick's Athletic	2	REPORT
February, 3rd 2024	LeinsterSnrCup	UCD	1	St Patrick's Athletic	3	REPORT
January, 26th 2024	Friendly	Drogheda United	0	St Patrick's Athletic	0	REPORT

Date	Competition	Home Team		Away Team
April, 5th 2024	League	St Patrick's Athletic	2	Shamrock Rovers	1	REPORT
February, 9th 2024	PresidentsCup	Shamrock Rovers	3	St Patrick's Athletic	1	REPORT
October, 27th 2023	League	St Patrick's Athletic	0	Shamrock Rovers	2	REPORT
May, 15th 2023	League	Shamrock Rovers	3	St Patrick's Athletic	2	REPORT
April, 21st 2023	League	St Patrick's Athletic	0	Shamrock Rovers	2	REPORT
March, 17th 2023	League	Shamrock Rovers	2	St Patrick's Athletic	2	REPORT
October, 21st 2022	League	Shamrock Rovers	4	St Patrick's Athletic	1	REPORT
June, 27th 2022	League	St Patrick's Athletic	1	Shamrock Rovers	2	REPORT
April, 15th 2022	League	Shamrock Rovers	1	St Patrick's Athletic	0	REPORT
March, 4th 2022	League	St Patrick's Athletic	1	Shamrock Rovers	0	REPORT

Date	Competition	Home Team		Away Team
November, 12th 2023	FaiCup	Bohemians	1	St Patrick's Athletic	3	REPORT
October, 8th 2023	FaiCup	Cork City	0	St Patrick's Athletic	2	REPORT
September, 15th 2023	FaiCup	Finn Harps	1	St Patrick's Athletic	2	REPORT
August, 20th 2023	FaiCup	Derry City	0	St Patrick's Athletic	0	REPORT
July, 23rd 2023	FaiCup	Longford Town	1	St Patrick's Athletic	2	REPORT
July, 31st 2022	FaiCup	St Patrick's Athletic	2	Waterford	3	REPORT
November, 28th 2021	FaiCup	Bohemians	1	St Patrick's Athletic	1	REPORT
October, 22nd 2021	FaiCup	St Patrick's Athletic	3	Dundalk	1	REPORT
September, 17th 2021	FaiCup	St Patrick's Athletic	3	Wexford FC	0	REPORT
August, 27th 2021	FaiCup	Cork City	1	St Patrick's Athletic	1	REPORT

Match Info

Date: 29/05/2015
Time: 7:45pm
Competition: FAI Cup
Round: SecondRound
Venue: Richmond Park

Officials

Paul McLaughlin (Monaghan)

St Patrick's Athletic FC

Founded in 1929 the 'Saints' are the current FAI Cup holders and play in the Premier Division of the SSE Airtricity League at Richmond Park, in Inchicore Dublin 8, Ireland.

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125 Emmet Road, Inchicore, Dublin 8, D08 E0Y7, Ireland

(+353) 1 454 6332
(+353) 1 454 6211

info@stpatsfc.com
www.stpatsfc.com

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St Patrick's Athletic vs Shamrock Rovers

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Result: Dundalk 0 - Saints 0

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