St Patrick's Athletic (2)

Match Report

St Patrick's Athletic 2 - Cork City 0

SUPER St Patrick's Athletic catapulted into third place last night as Trevor Molloy's fine second half strike sealed victory.

The absence of the injured George O'Callaghan and John O'Flynn from City's line-up was telling as they looked toothless up front, while, at times, it was a comedy of errors at the back.

The visitors got away with a comical mix-up between Danny Murphy and Neil Horgan at the back for the Leesiders, which saw the latter almost loop the ball into his own net, however, they weren't so fortunate after 32 minutes.

St Pat's left-full John Frost floated over a speculative cross from the touchline and Cork captain Dan Murray's miscued header squeezed past his own keeper, the helpless Michael Devine.

The Dubliners doubled their lead within six minutes of the restart thanks to Molloy's wonder goal.

Leaving Murphy for dead down the left, the Pat's hitman turned Alan Bennett inside out as he entered the box before drilling low and hard inside the near post.

The title holders responded like champions, going close on several occasion. O'Callaghan's deputy Admir Sostic struck the crossbar as Cork rallied while at the other end only a save from Devine foiled Michael Foley.

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