St Patrick's Athletic 4 - Galway United 2A Derek Doyle hat-trick helped St Pat's Athletic to a vital win over Galway United at Richmond Park. Doyle netted the first after two minutes with a sweet strike past Barry Ryan. Anto Flood slammed an equaliser in for Galway on 38 before Garry Curran put Galway ahead on 45. Vinny Faherty fired past Ryan on 60 to draw Pat's level before Doyle netted on 73 minutes with a cool finish after Galway failed to clear a long ball. Doyle scored number four from the spot on 83 after Brian Cash was fouled in the box. There was only one minute and 22 seconds on the clock when Pat's raced into the lead. Faherty on the right wing whipped a delightful cross into the centre where Doyle connected to stroke the ball beyond former Pat's goalkeeper Ryan in the Galway goal. Following that early excitement Pat's took the upper hand and bossed the play, but couldn't find a way past the Galway defence, who recovered well from the early setback. One of Pat's best passages of play came on 24 minutes when Dave Mulcahy made a cracking run from just inside the westerners half to the edge of the penalty area, beating several opponents on the way. He offloaded to Paul Byrne, who couldn't get a clean shot on target with his effort taking a deflection out of play. Byrne then went close with a header on the half hour but Ryan made a brilliant point blank save at his left hand post. Galway had been coming more and more in into the game and were deservedly back on level terms on 38 minutes when Karl Sheppard teed up Flood who slammed a powerful low drive past the diving Gary Rogers in the Pat's goal. Galway continued the good work as the half wound down and went ahead on 45 minutes when Curran beat Rogers with a delightful chip from 25 yards. Faherty nearly got Pat's into it with a low drive on 48 minutes but Ryan made another fine save at the left post. However Faherty's luck was in on 60 minutes when Byrne's header fell into his path and he confidently shot past Ryan to put Pat's level. Doyle netted his second of the night on 73 minutes with a cool finish after collecting the loose ball following Galway failed to clear a long ball. The fourth came from the penalty spot on 83 minutes after Brian Cash was fouled in the box by Rhys Meynell. © rte.ie
