St Patrick's Athletic (0) - Sligo Rovers (2)

St Patrick's Athletic 0 - Sligo Rovers 2

Dinny Corcoran scored twice off the bench as Sligo Rovers all but sealed their SSE Airtricity League Premier Division survival with a 2-0 victory at Richmond Park.

As defeats befell both Limerick and Drogheda United, Sligo move up to ninth in the table, three points ahead of second-bottom Drogheda, though with a far superior goal difference heading into next week's final round of matches.

However, the result, coupled with Bohemians winning away at Derry City, leaves fourth-placed St Patrick's Athletic still looking to clinch a Europa League place.

In added intrigue to Corcoran's match-winning display was the fact that Sligo assistant manager Alan Rogers answered “no” when asked on Twitter on Thursday if he was happy that their leading scorer had played in a recent GAA match for St Patrick's Donabate less than 24 hours after Sligo had played Longford Town a fortnight ago.

With both skipper Ger O'Brien and Sean Hoare back in the starting eleven, St Pat's reverted to a more familiar defence as Killian Brennan shifted back into central midfield as Lee Desmond and Ian Morris dropped to the bench.

Depleted Sligo made three changes from their defeat at home to Bohemians last week, with Danny Ledwith starting at left-back, while Keith Ward and Raffaele Cretaro came into Rovers' midfield.

Eager to rubberstamp Europe, and get Monday's home defeat to Cork City out of their system, St Pat's started positively with Jamie McGrath forcing the first corner of the night with a deflected shot on five minutes.

St Pat's maintained the early pressure, with Sligo right-back Gary Boylan getting his body in the way to block Aaron Greene's stinging drive before James Chambers was off target with a dipping volley.

Visiting keeper Richard Brush then came to his side's rescue in the 25 minutes with a terrific reaction save from point-blank range at his back post from Christy Fagan after Conan Byrne picked him out with a low cross from the right.

Sligo struggled to get a foothold in the game, not registering their first effort on target until the 40th minutes when Boylan's drive was comfortable for Conor O'Malley in the home goal.

Service resumed back at the other end minutes later, Greene cutting in on the left to drill wide across goal.

But Sligo might have snatched the lead in first-half stoppage time. Jennison Myrie-Williams whipped a cross over from the left and Sander Puri wasn't far wide with a bullet header.

Brush made his second save of the game three minutes into the second half, touching Greene's shot round a post.

St Pat's had loud shouts for a penalty not entertained by Cork referee Anthony Buttimer on 57 minutes after Ledwith cushioned a cross from Ian Bermingham back to Brush.

But the complexion of the game changed on 64 minutes when Sligo stole the lead.

On for Cretaro eight minutes earlier, Corcoran's header found the net from the rebound after St Pat's keeper O'Malley did well to parry a shot from Myrie-Williams.

Winger Myrie-Williams then won the penalty that sealed Sligo's victory on 75 minutes when he raced clear to be pulled down by O'Malley.

Corcoran fired his spot kick into the corner for his 12th league goal of the season.

© rte.ie

Match Report

St Patrick's Athletic 0 - Sligo Rovers 2

Match Info

Home Team

Away Team

Officials

Goalscorers

Yellow Cards

Red Cards

St Patrick's Athletic FC

Latest Posts

Result: Dundalk 1 - Saints 2

Nine Saints Set For International Duty

Preview: Dundalk v Saints (05/09/24)

Useful Links

Contact Us