Soccer

Conan Byrne destroys Limerick after being released from bench

St Patrick’s Athletic come from a goal down after half-time change

Conan Byrne of St Patrick’s Athletic celebrates scoring their second goal with his team-mates during the SSE Airtricity League Premier Division match against Limerick at Richmond Park. Photograph: Ryan Byrne/Inpho

Paul Buttner at Richmond Park
Fri Jul 20 2018 - 22:11

St Patrick’s Athletic 2 Limerick 1

Conan Byrne came off the bench to score twice inside four minutes to end St Pat's seven-match losing streak.

With Dublin City Council rejecting the club’s plans for a new stadium in Inchicore earlier in the day, it looked like it wasn’t going to get any better for St Pat’s as they fell behind on 17 minutes.

In trying to block Barry Maguire's shot from Darren Murphy's low corner, Killian Brennan tripped the Limerick midfielder with referee Seán Grant pointing to the spot.

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Former St Pat's winger Billy Dennehy sent his ex-team-mate Brendan Clarke the wrong way from the spot.

St Pat's failed to get an effort on target in the first half, as they came close to conceding again when Will Fitzgerald saw a volley arrow just wide.

With two changes, St Pat’s greatly upped the tempo on the resumption and were level on 77 minutes when Byrne won and slotted home a penalty.

The veteran winger was then there to win it three minutes later, powering a header to the net from a Simon Madden cross.

Killian Cantwell thought he had salvaged a point for Limerick in the last minute only to see his volley cannon ball off the crossbar.

ST PATRICK'S ATHLETIC: B Clarke; Madden, Leahy, Desmond, Bermingham; Clifford (Lennon, h/t), K. Brennan (C Byrne, h/t); Markey, R Brennan, D Clarke; Keegan (T Byrne, 75 mins).

LIMERICK: Holland; Cantwell, Wearen, Brouder, B. Dennehy; Murphy, Duggan (Morrissey, 82 mins); K O'Sullivan, Maguire, K O'Sullivan; Ellis.

Referee: Sean Grant (Wexford).

Attendance: 1,005

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