St Patrick’s Athletic 1 Derry City 0
Chris Forrester scored another sublime goal as St Patrick’s then hung on with 10-men to get back to winning ways at Richmond Park.
The narrow win moves the Inchicore side level on points with leaders Shamrock Rovers and second-placed Sligo Rovers though they remain third in the table on goal difference with a game more played.
A positive start brought St Pat’s their reward on 24 minutes.
Derry lost possession cheaply in midfield and were duly punished. The impressive Darragh Burns’ cross wasn’t fully cleared with Mattie Smith’s shot deflected to Ronan Coughlan to set up Forrester.
The home talisman’s feint sent defenders the wrong way before he got the ball onto his right foot to rifle it to the top corner of Nathan Gartside’s net.
Derry survived a St Patrick’s onslaught on the resumption to enjoy a purple patch with Cameron McJannet narrowly over the top with a spectacular overhead kick.
Derry were given further encouragement as St Pat’s were reduced to 10 men on 57 minutes when rightback Jamie Lennon received his second yellow card for a challenge on James Akintunde and was sent off, the fourth St Pat’s player to see red in their last three games.
The woodwork then deprived Derry of an equaliser on 65 minutes, Derry captain Eoin Toal’s towering header crashing off their crossbar from Jack Malone’s corner.
St Patrick's Athletic: Jaros; Lennon, Barrett, Bone, McClelland; Forrester, Lewis (Abankwah, 62); Burns (McCormack, 73), Benson, Smith; Coughlan (King, 27).
Derry City: Gartside; Boyce, Toal, McJannet, Coll; Harkin, Cole (Fitzgerald, 54), Malone (Ferry, 72), Lafferty; Akintunde, Ogedi-Uzokwe.
Referee: Neil Doyle (Dublin).
Finn Harps 0 Waterford 1
Quitirna Junior Armando scored a match-winning penalty on his debut as ninth placed Waterford chalked up a valuable away win over eighth placed Finn Harps at Finn Park.
Finn Harps have been a bogey team for Waterford in recent times - having beaten them in their previous seven league meetings.
But this win for Marc Bircham’s side moves them to within four points of the Donegal side.
Waterford were awarded a penalty in the final minute of the first half with Jordan Mustoe penalised for a challenge on Darragh Power. Armando obliged with real conviction from the spot kick.
To add to Harps’ frustration they then had a penalty plea for a challenge on Adam Foley was dismissed.
The second half started in dramatic fashion as Harps were awarded a penalty within 40 seconds for a foul on Sean Boyd - but Barry McNamee’s spot kick was stopped by Matthew Connor and subsequently cleared.
Tempers boiled over late on and Waterford’s Prince Mutswunguma was sent off in stoppage time.
Chances flowed at either end but Waterford held on for a third win in their last four away trips.
Finn Harps: McGinley; Boyle, Webster (Rainey, 25, Barry 82), Dunleavy; O'Sullivan, B. McNamee, Coyle (Connolly, 82), Seymore, Mustoe (Doherty, 67); Foley, Boyd (Owolabi, 67) .
Waterford: Connor; Evans, Ferguson, Nolan; Power, O'Keefe, Wordsworth, Griffin, Martin; Armando (Kavanagh, 73 mins); Mutswunguma.
