Cork City 1 St Patrick's Athletic 2
St Patrick’s Athletic moved up to fourth place in the SSE Airtricity League Premier Division after a superb start gave them an early cushion against Cork City at Turner’s Cross on Saturday evening.
The visitors were 2-0 up inside 11 minutes thanks to an Alan Bennett own goal and a strike from Jordan Gibson and, but for better finishing, they would have been ahead by even more before Cork City captain Gearóid Morrissey gave the Rebel Army some hope before half-time.
Pat’s were well on top in the first half. They had the first chance as Chris Forrester tested Mark McNulty in the seventh minute and, from the resultant corner, captain Robbie Benson’s delivery bounced off Bennett and in.
The lead was doubled as Gibson’s persistence was rewarded when he kept a chance alive before slotting past McNulty and there were further chances for him, Jason McClelland, Forrester and Georgie Kelly as Pat’s dominated the exchanges.
City’s plight was indicated by the fact that Ricardo Dinanga and Henry Ochieng were brought on just after the half-hour but they were back in the game in injury time thanks to Morrissey, who reacted when a ball broke in the penalty area and fired to the net.
In the second half, the hosts offered more of an attacking threat but never truly tested Clarke, with defender Joseph Olowu skewing a volley well wide while Kevin O’Connor had a free-kick deflected off-target. Forrester and McClelland might have restored Pat’s two-goal lead near the end but they had done enough for the points.
McNulty; Kargbo, Olowu, Bennett, K O’Connor; Coleman (Galvin 88), Morrissey; D O’Connor (Ochieng 32), Dalling, McGlade (Dinanga 32); Elliott (Fenwick 73).
Clarke; Feely, McNally, Desmond, Griffin; Lennon, Benson; McClelland, Forrester (Markey 90), Gibson; Kelly (King 77).
D Tomney (Dublin).
