St Patrick's Athletic 1 - Galway United 2MAYBE it's a good thing for St Patrick's Athletic that the league is now entering its mid-season hiatus. For the table-toppers look like a side desperately in need of a break after a Derek Glynn double helped the Westerners in an audacious raid on Richmond Park last night. They suffered a second defeat in the space of a week to a Galway side that deserved all three points for being more clinical in an entertaining encounter. The only consolation for Johnny McDonnell was the fact that results elsewhere did not quite punish their slip up. With Joseph Ndo injured and Alan Kirby not at concert pitch either, Pat's have lost the edge that typified their start to the campaign. From the outset in this game, they looked jittery in their own half with a series of stray passes and errors keeping Barry Ryan occupied. Yet there's no doubting the confidence of the Saints front men and that was accurately demonstrated in the 29th minute when they took the lead with a goal which came relatively out of the blue. A long kick-out from Ryan was flicked on by Gary O'Neill into the path of top scorer Mark Quigley who deftly clipped the ball over Gary Rogers with nonchalant ease. It didn't relax the hosts. Galway were coming into this game in good heart after a win over Longford on Tuesday which was inspired by a double from Glynn - a 24-year-old striker plucked from junior football. He was clearly in inspired form and demonstrated that by equalising five minutes later with a sure-fire contender for goal of the month that started with a mazy run and culminated with a curling right foot effort that found the top corner. After the interval, there was a brief lull before a frenetic series of chances at both ends just past the hour mark. O'Neill miscued well wide when a poor clearance from Rogers left him with an empty goal to shoot at from 25 yards. Shortly afterwards, as Galway asserted, they very nearly took the lead when Stephen O'Flynn's volley was brilliantly kept out by Ryan. Pat's missed a golden opportunity to take the lead on the counter with 73 minutes gone but Quigley's slide rule pass to sub Ryan Guy was blocked by the outstanding Regi Nootimeer. Within two minutes, Galway would nab the winner when Darragh Maguire and Stephen Paisley got themselves in a muddle to allow Glynn nip in and fire a terrific right-footed strike home. © Irish Independent
