St Patrick’s Athletic 1 Cork City 1
Cork City were left fuming on Friday night as St Patrick’s Athletic pinched a controversial stoppage-time equaliser at Inchicore.
Leading by Karl Sheppard’s 54th minute opener, City thought the whistle was imminent when referee Ben Connolly played the allotted three minutes of added time.
Sheppard’s decision to kick the ball away didn’t help as soon up stepped Simon Madden to rocket a low drive through a thicket of defenders with the last kick of the match in the 95th minute.
Up till that point, defender Kevin Toner represented the biggest threat for the hosts.
His first one came in first-half stoppage time, their best opportunity to that point, when the centre-back arrived on cue to connect with Mikey Drennan’s corner which was saved.
The former Aston Villa man once again rose highest in the box just after they’d conceded but was his glancing effort didn’t trouble to Cork stopper Mark McNulty.
By then, Sheppard had raced to the front post to turn in Garry Buckley’s low centre on 54 minutes.
Kevin O’Connor and his namesake, substitute Daire, should have added to the lead, making that late concession all the more galling just when their wretched season was in need of some respite.
St Patrick's Athletic: B Clarke; D Webster, C Kelly, K Toner; S Madden, C Coleman, C Forrester (J Lennon 70), D Markey (J Doona 77), I Bermingham; G Shaw (J Walker 36), M Drennan.
Cork City: M McNulty; C Horgan, C McCarthy, S McLoughlin, K O'Connor; C McCormack, G Morrissey; J Tilley (C Bargary 90), G Buckley, S Griffin (D O'Connor 12); K Sheppard.
Referee: Ben Connolly (Dublin)
Attendance: 1382.
Dundalk 4 Sligo Rovers 0
John Mountney took the match ball home as Dundalk moved three points clear at the top of the SSE Airtricity League table with a 4-0 win over Sligo Rovers at Oriel Park.
With Shamrock Rovers idle this weekend, this was an opportunity for Vinny Perth’s side to put some daylight between themselves and the Hoops and they did so emphatically, ending Sligo’s seven-game unbeaten run.
A number of supporters were still making their way into the ground when Dundalk pulled ahead with less than 30 seconds played. Patrick McEleney hooked the ball across from the left and Mountney rose above his marker to head past Ed McGinty.
The hosts continued to probe with intent and Jordan Flores went close on two occasions, firing just wide with a crisp drive before glancing a header just off target.
Liam Buckley’s side, who were hoping to extend a seven-game unbeaten run, eventually settled and they almost restored parity with their first real attack of note in the 25th minute.
Daryl Fordyce cut the Dundalk back four open to slide Romeo Parkes in but the Jamaican saw his effort fly across the face of goal with nobody in a red shirt there to take advantage.
The Bit o’Red started the second half well, forcing Dundalk into a number of errors and Gary Rogers had to react smartly to tip a clever David Cawley free around the post in the 58th minute.
Their momentum was checked just two minutes later, however, as Dundalk were awarded their ninth penalty of the season when Hoban’s effort was blocked by the outstretched arms of Kyle McFadden.
Referee Rob Rogers blew immediately and Hoban, who saw two previous spot kicks saved by McGinty, made no mistake, sending the ‘keeper the wrong way to take his tally to 11 for the season.
Mountney put it to bed when he headed home a Duffy cross to make it 3-0 and he completed the first hat-trick of his career with his final kick of the game in the 81st minute, steering a fine penalty past McGinty after Hoban was clipped by McFadden.
Dundalk: Rogers; Gannon, Cleary, Hoare, Jarvis; Shields, Flores (Massey 65); Mountney (D Kelly 81), McEleney (G Kelly 75), Duffy; Hoban.
Sligo Rovers: McGinty; Twardek, Callan-McFadden, Mahon, Banks;
Warde (Morahan HT), Cawley, Fordyce; Kerrigan (Morley 82), Coughlan, Parkes.
Referee: Rob Rogers.
Attendance: 2,136.
Bohemians 5 Finn Harps 3
Ryan Swan scored twice in an eight-goal thriller as Bohemians won for the first time in six league outings.
It was to be no happy 200th match in charge of Finn Harps’ for manager Ollie Horgan whose bottom of the table side finished with 10 men and have now lost on their last 12 visits to Dalymount Park.
In an action-packed opening, the sides swapped goals inside the opening three minutes.
There was just just 40 seconds on the watch when Bohemians took the lead in their first foray forward.
Danny Mandroiu’s square pass found Keith Ward whose drilled shot came back off a post to present Kevin Devaney with a tap-in.
Scarcely the start Harps wanted. But they responded superbly to level in the third minute.
Bohemians marking was negligent as Daniel O’Reilly met Tony McNamee’s left flank delivery to loop a header off James Talbot’s crossbar.
Niall Logue reacted quickest to the rebound to shoot to the far corner of the net.
Bohemians were back in front on 27 minutes.
A hooked Mandroiu effort from a Scott Allardice cross was partially cleared off the line. Swan was on hand to side-foot home from just yards out.
Harps levelled again two minutes into the second half.
Cork referee Graham Kelly played an advantage to allow the ball run into the path of Raff Cretaro who smacked a low drive in off Talbot’s far post.
Such was the nature of the game, Bohemians were back in front three minutes later.
Having been fouled, Mandroiu’s direct free kick appeared to take a defection off the wall to wrong foot Peter Burke and enter the net.
Poor defending stretched Bohemians lead on 53 minutes.
A ball over the top caught Harps flat as Swan timed his run in behind to perfection to score with a delightful lob over Burke.
Harps were then reduced to 10 men on 62 minutes when McAleer was dismissed for a foul on Paddy Kirk, his second booking.
Keith Ward added Bohs’ fifth goal from Andy Lyons’s cross on 80 minutes.
O’Reilly then got some late consolation for Harps with the goal of the game four minutes from time from a stunning free kick that went in off a post.
Bohemians: Talbot; Lyons, Finnerty, Barry, Kirk; Allardice (Wade-Slater, 73), Levingston; Ward (Byrne, 81), Mandroiu, Devaney (Graydon, 78); Swan.
Finn Harps: Burke; Borg, Cowan, Logue, O'Reilly; McNamee, Todd (Harkin, 59); McAleer, Place (Timlin, 65), Cretaro (Doherty, 75); Boyd.
Referee: Graham Kelly (Cork).
