Linfield 1 - St Patrick's Athletic 0Linfield claimed a 1-0 victory over St Patrick's Athletic in their final Group 3 game of the Setanta Sports Cup, which sends them through to the semi-finals as group leaders. Peter Thompson scored in the final minute to seal the win for The Blues, who will now face Bohemians in the last four of the All-Ireland competition. The first chance of the game came on 12 minutes when Jamie Tomelty tricked his way past his marker on the left before delivering a low cross which was nervously deflected over the bar by a St Pat’s defender. On 16 minutes, Mark McAllister worked his way into a bit of room on the right before cutting the ball back for Damien Curran who was lurking on the edge of the box and the Linfield midfielder’s powerful left foot shot was deflected just wide of Gary Rogers’ goal. After 23 minutes, Alan Blayney had to be on his toes after St Pats forward Vinny Faherty hit a snap shot from the left hand corner of the box. The big Linfield shot stopper got down well to turn the ball round the post for a corner kick. Jamie Tomelty almost created the opening goal of the game on 26 minutes when he evaded the challenge of Ian Bermingham on the right before delivering a delicious right foot cross towards Marcus Kane. The young Linfield midfielder who was lurking at the back post, flashed a left footed shot from a tight angle across the face of goal only for Mark McAllister to prod the ball agonisingly over the cross bar from 2 yards out – an astonishing miss from the Linfield striker. St Pat's almost snatched the lead a minute later. Ryan Guy delivered a great cross from the left which beat the head of Aidan O’Kane and fell to Vincent Faherty, but the striker could only blaze over Alan Blayney’s cross bar from 12 yards out. Just when the game looked to be heading for a drab scoreless draw, it sparked to life on 90 minutes when Aidan O’Kane whipped in a menacing ball from the left. Shane Guthrie attempted to head the ball clear but instead handed it on a plate to Peter Thompson who kept his cool and slid the ball home, left footed, from 12 yards. It was no more than both sets of supporters deserved given how dull the game had been up to that point. © airtricityleague.com
