St Patricks Athletic - 4 Longford Town - 1: News of last weekend's meeting with the board in the wake of a nightmarish defeat at the Showgrounds prompted a good deal of talk that John McDonnell would become the Premier Division's fourth managerial casualty in a matter of weeks. His side's progress to the semi-finals of the Carlsberg-sponsored FAI Cup at Richmond Park last night has ensured, however, that for the moment at least reports of his departure remain premature.
It may not have been the most convincing of victories and Longford, or the referee, if their supporters are to be believed, did much to contribute to their own downfall. But, inspired by the tireless work of Trevor Molloy, who scored a hat-trick, St Pat's victory was comfortable enough in the end.
The extended cup run will surely be welcome. Having loosened the purse strings after watching the team struggle so badly last season, McDonnell's bosses and the club's supporters were rewarded with a strong start to the season.
Since the end of June, though, the goals have dried up and the points become desperately hard to come by. With just nine points to show for their last 10 games, a cup outing against another team with little else left to play for this season took on a disproportionate importance, and the win, the club's first over these opponents in a couple of years, might just provide the required boost to morale.
Trevor Molloy certainly thrived on this break from the weekly grind of the league. Since the 3-1 win over Sligo on June 30th when the former Shamrock Rovers striker scored twice, he had not once managed to find the net but on the evidence of this display it is hard to understand why.
The 29-year-old was bright, lively and inventive and his efforts were rewarded with the goals that brought his season's tally into double figures.
His first was the product of a fine strike from around 25 yards after just four minutes, when he turned inside Kevin Doherty and glimpsed enough of the top right corner to pick his spot.
The greater blow to Longford's hopes, though, came 22 minutes later when the home side, under almost constant pressure since taking the lead, broke out of their own half courtesy of a Dean Fitzgerald error and a fine piece of running by Anto Murphy.
When Danny O'Connor clipped the heels of the midfielder inside the box referee Pat Whelan promptly reached for his red card and Michael Foley sent the resulting penalty low and to the right of Michael Dempsey, who guessed the wrong way.
St Patrick's generated a steady stream of chances over the rest of the half, Molloy coming within a whisker of converting the best of them when he narrowly failed to make contact with Mark Rutherford's cross after good work by Paul Keegan.
Longford, though, refused to give up on the game. Davy Byrne dropped back into central defence for the departed O'Connor but Alan Matthews persisted with two up front and for the most part his side coped well.
The prospect of them grabbing a goal and perhaps unsettling their hosts still looked a distinct possibility until Rutherford did the hard stuff seven minutes into the second period and Molloy turned the ball home via Seán Prunty's outstretched leg to make it 3-0.
Still, the visitors grabbed one back thanks to a fine finish by Robbie Martin and they battled gamely until a shot by Molloy struck Byrne's hand and Whelan again pointed to the penalty spot. Molloy quickly grabbed the ball away from Foley and promptly completed his hat-trick.
By this stage the match official was the target of persistent taunts from the Longford supporters, whose displeasure was only increased when their team was reduced to nine men by the dismissal of Byrne for raising his arm as he challenged Anto Murphy near the sideline.
It looked harsh but having perhaps erred on the side of leniency with Byrne earlier for a worse offence involving Murphy, Whelan followed the advice of his well-placed linesman and again produced the red card.
For Longford it was a grim ending to a bad night. For St Patrick's the dream of a long-overdue Cup success survives at least a few weeks more.
ST PATRICK'S ATHLETIC: Ryan; P Quigley (Maguire, 54 mins), Brennan, C Foley, Frost; Murphy, Mulcahy, M Foley, Rutherford; Keegan (Armstrong, 77 mins), Molloy (M Quigley, 81 mins).
LONGFORD TOWN: Dempsey; Murphy, Doherty, O'Connor, Prunty; Kirby, Byrne, Fitzgerald, Cronin (Gough, 52 mins); R Martin, Mooney (Baker, 64 mins).
Referee: P Whelan (Dublin).
