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Sporting Fingal 2 St. Patrick's Athletic 3
Monday, 23 August 2010 10:45
A last minute header from Derek Doyle fired St Patrick’s Athletic to a 3-2 victory over Sporting Fingal at Morton Stadium on Monday evening.



The Ravens were eager to build up a winning run after beating UCD last week, although they found it difficult to break down Pete Mahon’s side.



It took an error from Shane Guthrie and a superb finish from Williams on 38 minutes to put them ahead as they caught their opponents off-guard.



But the away side hit back through Vinny Faherty and David McAllister before Conan Byrne levelled the scores at 2-2. Although, there was a final twist when Doyle headed in on 90 minutes.



There was little between the two teams early on with Ryan Guy and McAllister both firing wide as the Saints attempted to secure an early advantage.



However, the two sides cancelled each other out with St Pat’s set up in a 4-5-1 system to counteract their hosts, who stuck with their usual 4-3-3 formation. The result was that neither team could take control of the game.



Sporting relied on their counter attacking ability to create the bulk of their chances, yet they were restricted to shooting from distance as Gary O’Neill and Williams both tested the alertness of keeper Gary Rogers.



Then the game turned in favour of Liam Buckley’s men when they took the lead. A storming run down the left flank from John Frost resulted in him crossing into the penalty area, where Guthrie slipped and hooked the ball straight to Williams to fire in.



Although that just fired up the visitors with Faherty drawing them level on 60 minutes when Ian Bermingham played a one-two with Doyle before crossing to the lone striker to flick the ball into the back of the net.



It took just three minutes for the Saints to strike again when McAllister stormerd forward through midfield, linked up well with Faherty and blasted in past Sporting keeper Darren Quigley.



The game was suddenly alive as the home team responded by scoring their second of the game through Byrne after he connected with O’Neill’s pass and perfectly executed an angled effort.



Although, the three points went to St Pat’s as Doyle got up highest to meet McAllister’s cross from the right to head in and boost their title chances.



Sporting Fingal: Quigley; O’Brien, Maher, Browne, Frost; Finn, McFaul, Williams; Byrne (Kirby 87), O’Neill (Crowe 81), Cahill (Zayed 72).



Substitutes Not Used: Clarke, Gannon.



St Patrick’s Athletic: Rogers; Pender, Kenna, Guthrie, Bermingham; Guy (Cash 87), McAllister, S Byrne, O’Connor (O’Brien 90), Doyle; Faherty.



Substitutes Not Used: Bennion, Lynch, Haverty.



Referee: R Winter (Wicklow).
 
 
 
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