Bohemians went top of the Premier Division table after Raffaele Cretaro’s first-half goal saw them past St Patrick’s Athletic at Richmond Park.

 

Barry Murphy was the hero in the second half, pulling off a string of fine saves to preserve the lead. The Saints now face an uphill battle to hang on to their European spot after a disappointing run of form.

 

Jason Byrne fired over in the opening minute as Bohs started strongly, but after that the chances were few and far between.

 

Derek Doyle dispossessed Killian Brennan and raced through but his shot was too high. And it was Bohs who took the lead on 26 minutes as Noel Haverty’s overzealous challenge on Killian Brennan resulted in a penalty.

 

Brennan stepped up but his shot was parried by Chris Bennion only for Cretaro to follow in and hammer home the rebound. The shot was so fierce that the match took five minutes to resume as the net needed to be fixed. And when it did it was the champions who kept pushing forward and they were unlucky that the advantage was a single goal at half-time.

 

Glenn Cronin got the ball forward and Cretaro capitalised as Conor Kenna dallied – but his dipping volley cannoned off the bar. Paul Keegan then should have scored the Gypsies’ second. Brennan’s backpost corner caught the Saints napping and the midfielder was all alone as he headed just wide of the post.

 

Dave Mulcahy made a burst from midfiend but pulled his low shot wide as Pete Mahon’s men went in behind at the interval. But they could have been level within eight minutes of the restart as Danny North got in behind Ken Oman and pulled the ball back for Vinny Faherty, but the striker’s rising drive came back off the bar.

 

Mulcahy then fired just over from Dave McAllister’s corner, while at the other end Bennion denied Brennan. But it turned out to be Murphy who saved the day saving twice from Sean Stewart late on to keep the clean sheet and take the points.

 

St Patrick's Athletic: Bennion; Pender, Kenna, Haverty, Bermingham; Guy, Mulcahy (O’Brien 82), McAllister, Doyle (Stewart 71); Faherty (O’Connor 61), North.

 

Substitutes Not Used: Rogers, Lynch.

 

Bohemians: Murphy; Rossiter, Shelley, Oman, Powell; Brennan, Cronin, Keegan, McGlynn (Quigley 80); Byrne (Madden 61), Cretaro (Greene 89). 

 

Substitutes Not Used: O'Connor, Higgins.

 

Referee: R Winter (Wicklow).