St Patrick's Ath 0 Drogheda Utd 1:WITH EUROPE out of the way for this year and quite a gap to close on the top four, last year's champions needed a win at Richmond Park last night if anything is to be salvaged from this season's league campaign.

They got it thanks to a slightly fortuitous Paul Keegan goal three minutes into the second half and now move to within six points of Derry City and eight of Cork with two games in hand but the home side will wonder quite how they came away with nothing from game they rather comfortably had the better of.

United's recent record against the four clubs currently above them in the table had been fairly abysmal prior to this with just four points from six games in the current campaign but having taken the lead here they fought hard to defend it, particularly through a tough period of pressure during the closing minutes.

As injury time slipped by, St Patrick's threw everything at their opponents in the hope of salvaging at least a point but for all Keith Fahey's efforts to drive his side forward, nothing quite went right around the box with top scorer, Mark Quigley, in particular, enduring one of his more frustrating nights.

The visitors made a couple of changes to the side that started in Kiev but stuck with the solitary striker with wide men supporting and their hosts seemed intent on matching them numerically in midfield by getting Damien Lynch forward down the right and moving Ryan Guy inside.

Going forward, it worked well with Lynch setting up decent chances for Quigley and Glen Fitzpatrick with nicely-floated crosses but defensively the Dubliners looked a little at sea until, not long before the break, Fahrudin Kuduzovic switched from the left to join Ibrahima Iyane-Thiam in the Drogheda forward line and Lynch reverted to right back.

By then, United had been obliged to replace Shane Robinson and Brian Shelley, both of whom had limped out of the game with injuries, but last year's champions had nevertheless survived a rocky opening period during which the locals should really have gotten themselves into the driving seat.

Gary Dempsey, Quigley and Guy had all gone close but perhaps their best chance came moments before the break when Lynch ended a patient build-up with a cross to the far post where Glen Fitzpatrick had a fine opportunity to head home but opted instead to knock the ball into the path of Quigley who, slightly wrong-footed, completely missed his attempted shot.

Fahey produced a couple of wonderful long passes and, with the pursuit of an equaliser hotting up late on, he battered his way down the right flank before picking out Quigley whose deflected low shot barely tested Jamie Ewings.

The Scot, in fact, really should have had a good deal more to do over the course of the 90 minutes but for all their possession and the cleverness with which they worked their way through midfield, the hosts generated surprisingly few attempts on goal of real significance.

United managed far fewer with a Robinson shot blocked down by Jamie Harris and a long-range effort by Iyane-Thiam as much as they had to show for their first-half efforts. Not long into the second period, though, they were awarded a free 25 yards out after Lynch had collided with Kuduzovic and Keegan stepped up to take it.

The midfielder curled his shot over the wall and though it didn't have much power on it, Iyane-Thiam threw Barry Ryan by looking as if he was going to intercept the ball. Quite what he intended was unclear but the striker made no contact and the balled bounced in at the foot of the right-hand post.

The defeat is another major blow for John McDonnell's side who had already lost a good deal of their title race momentum with four draws in their last eight games. They stay seven points behind Bohemians with a match more played as the season moves into its final series of matches.

At least for them, there are still a couple of nights out in Europe to come.

The FAI has confirmed that this year's FAI Cup final will take place at the RDS on Sunday, November 23rd. The competition's fourth round is scheduled for next weekend.

ST PATRICK'S ATHLETIC: Ryan; Gavin, Harris, Paisley; Lynch, Guy, Dempsey, Fahey, Byrne (Bialek, 58 mins); Fitzpatrick (Murphy, 58 mins), Quigley.

DROGHEDA UNITED: Ewings; Byrne, Shelley (Maher, 35 mins), Gartland, Kendrick; Baker, Robinson (Keegan, 28 mins), Hughes, Cahill, Kudozovic; Iyane-Thiam (Zayed, 66 mins).

Referee: C Hancock (Dublin).