THE 79th minute equaliser by St Patrick's substitute Jason Byrne earned the current Premier Division champions a share of the spoils at a breezy Brandywell on Saturday night.

Packie lynch floated a free kick deep into the Derry penalty area and Byrne, who had entered the fray only five minutes earlier, diverted the ball beyond the reach of Derry keeper Tony O'Dowd.

Up until that point the home side had controlled the proceedings. Derry's persistence eventually paid off in the 47th minute when central defender Gavin Dykes broke the deadlock.

Following a corner on the left, the visitors failed to clear their lines adequately and when the ball broke to Dykes on the edge of the penalty area, the former Sligo skipper drilled a low shot to the net.

Derry should have ended this match as a contest in the 56th minute when Peter Hutton put James Keddy in the clear. However, in the subsequent one on one situation keeper Brian McKenna managed to block the shot with his body.

With only the minimum separating the sides, St Patrick's continued to battle and Derry had to rely on the brilliance of their goalkeeper in the 59th minute when O'Dowd did particularly well to parry a powerful John McDonnell close range header.

. Drogheda United went top of the First Division table after a resounding 4-1 win over Limerick at Hogan Park yesterday. Drogheda have been saving their best form for when they play away from United Park, and once Declan Roche gave them a 13th minute lead they never looked back.

Cobb Ramblers moved up to third in the table after a narrow 1-0 defeat of bottom of the table Monaghan United at St Colman's Park.