Sport

St Patrick's fail to make most of early pressure

St Patrick’s Ath 0 Drogheda U 0: ST PATRICK’S ATHLETIC and Drogheda United will meet again on Monday night in Drogheda after…

Sat Sept 15 2012 - 01:00

St Patrick's Ath 0 Drogheda U 0:ST PATRICK'S ATHLETIC and Drogheda United will meet again on Monday night in Drogheda after their quarter-Final finished scoreless at Richmond Park last night.

St Patrick’s dominated the early exchanges and a lot of the good early work from the home side happened down the left flank.

It was from there that they carved open an excellent move on 15 minutes. Ian Bermingham swept a long ball up the wing which was seized upon by Vinny Faherty, who in turn set the ball up for Chris Forrester in the box but Drogheda’s Eric Foley stuck out a leg to divert the ball out of Forrester’s path just as the St Patrick’s wide man arrived in.

Moments after that Forrester did get on the ball from the right of the box but his subsequent cross cum shot was too wide of the goal but also too deep for a teammate to connect with.

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St Patrick’s were playing good football at this stage and another decent move on 26 minutes saw Forrester, Faherty, Seán O’Connor and John Russell all involved before a clearance by Brian Gannon eased the pressure on Drogheda.

St Patrick’s threatened again on 28 minutes when Seán O’Connor’s corner kick was knocked down for Faherty in the six-yard box but Gabriel Sava in the Drogheda goal did enough to block Faherty.

Drogheda captain Paul Crowley picked up an injury in the first half and was replaced by John Sullivan.

The visitors began to enjoy a little bit more possession than they had done in the first half but were let down by poor finishing.

Ryan Brennan was the first to fall into that category on 49 minutes when he scuffed his effort wide whilst Declan O’Brien fired straight into the arms of the St Patrick’s goalkeeper Barry Murphy on the hour mark. Forrester had the ball in the Drogheda net on 67 minutes but referee Paul Tuite ruled he had handled the ball in the build-up.

Greg Bolger could have won it for St Patrick’s on 86 minutes when he was put through by Stephen OFlynn but he directed his shot straight at Sava.

ST PATRICKS ATHLETIC: Murphy; OBrien, Kenna, Browne, Bermingham; Forrester (J Kelly 88 mins), Carroll, Chambers, Russell (Bolger 68 mins), OConnor; Faherty (OFlynn 79 mins).

DROGHEDA UNITED: Sava; Gannon, McNally, Prendergast, Hand; Foley, Crowley (Sullivan h/t), R Brennan, G Brennan; OBrien (Brady 69 mins), Hynes.

Referee: P Tuite (Dub).