Five-star display sees Dundalk break points record in style

Dundalk 5 Sligo Rovers 0

Dundalk received the SSE Airtricity League trophy at Oriel Park on Friday night after dismantling Sligo Rovers to rewrite the history books yet again.

Stephen Kenny’s side went into the game sitting on 83 points, two short of Bohemians’ record haul in 2008, but they simply blew the Bit O’Red away with a scintillating performance to move on to 86 points with one game still to go.

Just four minutes had elapsed when Patrick McEleney was hacked down in the box by Kyle McFadden but Ed McGinty tipped Patrick Hoban’s penalty onto the post.

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Dundalk continued to attack in waves and the breakthrough arrived in the ninth minute when Ronan Murray played the ball inside for John Mountney who lifted it brilliantly over McGinty with his left foot.

Michael Duffy made it 2-0 when he cut in from the left and dragged a vicious effort inside the goalkeeper’s right-hand post with 33 minutes played before Mountney wrapped it up before the break, rising highest to meet a Dean Jarvis cross and loop a header home.

Hoban would not be denied and he took his tally to 29 for the season with a quick-fire second-half brace, his first from the penalty spot, the second from a Dylan Connolly cross, equalling Brendan Bradley’s 42-year old record on a glorious night for the Lilywhites.

DUNDALK FC: Rogers; Gannon, Gartland, Hoare, Jarvis; Shields (Massey, 77 mins), McEleney; Mountney (Connolly h/t), Murray (McGrath, 63 mins), Duffy; Hoban.

SLIGO ROVERS: McGinty; McFadden, Sharkey, Mahon, Kerrigan (Collins, 74 mins); Twardek, Lynch, McCabe, Keane, Wixted (Morahan, h/t); Drennan.

Referee: Rob Rogers. Attendance: 3,877.

Shamrock Rovers 3 Waterford 1

Dan Carr scored for the third time in four games to help secure a third-place finish in the Premier Division table for Shamrock Rovers as the managers from both sides were sent to the stand at Tallaght Stadium.

Rovers were rewarded for a blistering start – in which they had a goal disallowed for offside – with the lead on 11 minutes when Carr’s low cross was turned into his own net by defender Garry Comerford.

Waterford responded with Dean O’Halloran bringing a save from Alan Mannus before Rory Feely cracked a shot off a post on 27 minutes.

Rovers survived to double their lead eight minutes later.

Blues failed to clear a Dylan Watts’s free-kick to allow Carr to get the ball onto his right foot and shoot home from 10 yards out for his 10th league goal of the season.

A bout of verbals between the respective benches 10 minutes into second half saw both managers, Stephen Bradley of Rovers and Blues’ Alan Reynolds, sent to the stand.

Back on the pitch, Ismahil Akinade got Waterford back into the game with a headed goal from fellow half-time substitute Dessie Hutchinson’s cross on 73 minutes.

But Rovers finished the stronger and Joey O’Brien was unlucky to see a diving header come back off the crossbar.

Substitute Seán Boyd then added their third goal on 87 minutes, stooping to head home skipper Ronan Finn’s cross from the right.

SHAMROCK ROVERS: Mannus; Bone, Lopes, Grace, O'Brien; Coustrain (A.

Bolger, 74¨ mins), G. Bolger, Finn, Watts, Carr (Boyd, 79 mins); Shaw (B Kavanagh, 64 mins).

WATERFORD: Corbet; Feely, Browne (Hutchinson, h/t), Comerford, Barnett; Keegan (Baba, 67 mins), Aborah; Puri (Akinade, h/t), Hery, Galvin; O'Halloran.

Referee: Rob Harvey (Dublin).

Derry City 0 Cork City 3

Cork City enjoyed a leisurely stroll at the Brandywell as Derry City went down to their fifth consecutive defeat on home soil.

The boos which followed the final whistle told its own story, the Candystripes struggling at the wrong end of the table after what has been a particularly disappointing campaign.

And making matters worse for the Foyleside club was the fact that former midfielder Barry McNamee hammered the first nail into the Derry coffin before goalkeeper Ger Doherty punched the ball into his own net following a corner, those goals coming on either side of half-time.

Cork broke the deadlock in the 14th minute when a classic counter-attack saw Garry Buckley pick up a loose ball just outside his penalty area and it was his forward burst which fashioned the goal.

Having avoided tackles on his penetrating run, Buckley neatly played the ball into the path of right winger McNamee, who coolly curled a low shot just inside the upright with his left foot.

Now content to sit back and hit on the break, Cork seemed happy to concede possession, confident of keeping it tight at the back.

After 19 minutes Derry created their only clear-cut scoring chance of the first half when Nicky Low played Ben Fisk in but his shot screamed wide of the target when he really should have done better.

Derry huffed and puffed but experienced great difficulty in getting through Cork’s back four protection of Gearoid Morrissey and Jimmy Keohane and it got worse following the change of ends.

Cork won a corner three minutes in, Kieran Sadlier floated the ball into the six-yard box where Doherty was surrounded and, unfortunately for him, his attempted fisted clearance saw the ball divert into his own net.

To be fair, the home side tried to gain respectabililty but Aaron McEneff’s powerful shot was saved by Cork goalkeeper Peter Cherrie in the 56th minute.

Cork’s final substitute Shane Daly-Butz rounded off the evening in the 87th minute with the third goal with his first touch, a cross-cum-shot, which delighted his Leeside colleagues.

DERRY CITY: Doherty; McDonagh, Cole, Toal, McHattie; McEneff (S. McNamee, 82 mins) Low (Sheils, h/t); Fisk (Delap, 75 mins), Rory Hale, Roy; Ronan Hale

CORK CITY: Cherrie; McCarthy Delaney, Barry, Hurley (Griffin, 62 mins); Keohane, Morrissey; B McNamee, Buckley (Daly-Butz, 85 mins), Sadlier; Cummins (Murphy, 80 mins).

Referee: D McGraith (Mayo).

Bray Wanderers 0 Bohemians 5

Bohemians completed a clean sweep over relegated Bray in the Premier Division this season as Dinny Corcoran bagged a four-goal salvo at the Carlisle Grounds.

The striker had netted a goal in each of his side’s three previous league wins over the Seagulls in 2018 but he matched that tally with a first-half treble with goals in the eighth, 11th and 39th minutes as the Dubliners registered their fifth top-flight away triumph on the spin.

It got even better for the 29-year-old after he completed the scoring midway through the second half by the seaside.

A quick breakaway saw Kevin Devaney notch a third in the 25th minute for the dominant visitors.

Keith Ward claimed his third assist in the 66th minute as Corcoran netted his 10th top-flight goal this term for the Phibsborough outfit.

BRAY WANDERERS: O'Connor; Gibbons, Heaney, Kenna, Lynch; Hayes (Harding, h/t), O'Conor, Gorman (Sullivan, h/t), Noone; Pender (Jake Kelly, h/t); Ellis.

BOHEMIANS: Supple; Pender, Casey, Byrne, Kirk; Lunney, Buckley; Daniel Kelly (Grant, 66 mins), Ward (Stokes, 71 mins), Devaney; Corcoran (Magerusan, 71 mins).

Referee: Graham Kelly (Cork).

Limerick FC 0 St Patrick’s Athletic 4

Limerick have two chances of remaining in the Premier Division following yet another home defeat at the Markets Field.

They will be at home for the second leg of their promotion-relegation playoff against Finn Harps and with that in mind Tommy Barrett fielded an understrength side as several key players are nursing injuries. He also gave a debut to Tomás O’Connor from the academy side and he showed up well.

The visitors took only 10 minutes to open the scoring thanks to a splendid volley by Kevin Toner following a corner. Jake Keegan doubled the score on 20 minutes when he chested the ball past Jake Brady following a superb pass from Conor Clifford.

Goalkeeper Brady made a superb save to deny Keegan a second but he was at fault for the third when he failed to gather a back pass from Colman Kennedy.

With the help of a post Simon Madden added a fourth after 49 minutes.

Having used their three substitutes St Patrick’s had 10 players for the last eight minutes when Dara Markey was injured but his side ran out comfortable winners with Brendan Clarke denying his former club with late saves from Karl O’Sullivan and Billy Dennehy.

LIMERICK FC: Brady, Kelly (Fitzgerald, 61 mins), Duggan, Morrissey, Tracy, O'Connor, Dennehy, O'Sullivan, Murphy, Kennedy, Maguire (Foley, 77 mins).

ST PATRICK'S ATHLETIC: Clarke, Toner, Desmond, Bermingham, Clifford (R Brennan, 65 mins), Byrne, Doona, Markey, Madden, Keegan (Campion, 71 mins), Manley (K Brennan, h/t).

Referee: J McLoughlin