Sporting Fingal fought back from two goals down to secure a 2-2 draw with St Patrick's Athletic at Morton Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

 

An own goal from Damian Lynch denied St Pat's a win that would have strengthened their grip on third place in the Premier Division as Sporting got their 14th draw of the season.

 

The Ravens were dealt an early blow when Dave Mulcahy opened the scoring on 8 minutes when he was able to hook in a cross from Ryan Guy, who had turned Colin Hawkins before whipping the ball across.

 

Glen Crowe almost gave the hosts a lead just before that goal when the former Bohemians striker fired wide after a swift counter attack from the Ravens.

 

Liam Buckley's team dominated possession and looked dangerous, but Gary O'Neill failed to convert two half chances and defender Shaun Maher headed over from a corner kick.

 

Then the visitors doubled their lead on 54 minutes when Guy stole the ball off Shaun Williams and played it into Danny North, who led off Maher before firing in off the far post.

 

Having not been able to beat St Pat's in any of their previous four meetings this season, Sporting would have been forgiven if they thought that luck would evade them again.

 

But Crowe got them back into it when he peeled away from his marker, controlled a pass from O'Neill and blasted in past Saints keeper Gary Rogers on 77 minutes.

 

The momentum was with the home team following that goal and they got back on level terms when Ronan Finn's shot took a big deflection off Lynch to secure a valuable point.

 

Sporting Fingal: Quigley; O’Brien, Maher, Hawkins, Fitzgerald (McFaul 59); Byrne, Finn, Williams, Cahill (Quinn 78); Crowe, O’Neill.

 

Substitutes Not Used: Clarke, Gannon, Kirby.

 

St Patrick's Athletic: Rogers; McAllister, Kenna, Haverty, Lynch; O’Connor (O’Brien 87), Byrne, Mulcahy, Doyle; Guy (Cash 82), North (Faherty 87).

 

Substitutes Not Used: Bennion, Stewart.

 

Referee: D Hanney (Dublin).