St Pat’s on a roll
Few teams are capable of putting four goals past Kevin Doherty’s Drogheda United, but a devastating second half from the league’s in-form attacking outfit managed it on Friday night.
St Patrick’s Athletic have been relatively inconspicuous in their slalom up the League of Ireland table. Four wins on the bounce, and 12 goals to go alongside them, have Stephen Kenny’s side in second place with a favourable run of fixtures lined up over the coming weeks.
St Pat’s underwhelmed last year, and the loss of Mason Melia to Tottenham Hotspur in the off-season did little to foster hopes of improvement. Their squad remains full of quality though, as evidenced by Friday’s goalscorers.
Ryan Edmondson, Aidan Keena, Kian Leavy and Romal Palmer, if they can stay fit, constitute a menacing, dynamic range of attacking options. Beyond them, Max Mata’s influence is likely to grow as the season wears on, and there is the quiet promise of contribution from a healthy Chris Forrester.
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A little bit further back, but involved in two of the goals against Drogheda, full back James Brown is looking like an astute addition. His ability from set pieces in particular stands out as a valuable new weapon in Inchicore.
Hickey a stellar signing for Bohemians
For the fourth time in six games this season, Galway United dropped points courtesy of a goal conceded in the last 10 minutes.
There was a cosmic misery about this one, as it arrived through Patrick Hickey, one of Galway’s most important players last year and a man that is quickly establishing a similar prominence, albeit in a different part of the pitch, for Bohemians.
It was a break from the free-flowing football that has fuelled an unbeaten start to the season for the home side. They struggled to break down a resolute Galway, but a different kind of victory may be no bad thing.
One theme did continue. Bohs have now kept a remarkable five clean sheets in six, with the only two blots on their copybook coming in injury time against Shamrock Rovers last month as they narrowly avoided surrendering a three-goal lead.
Always a hulking figure at set pieces, Hickey has threatened goals for several weeks. One half of a seemingly impermeable centre back partnership with Sam Todd, one wonders if this is what Alan Reynolds had envisaged from the American all along, or if his skill set became more apparent in preseason.
Hickey had been an unlikely spear in Galway’s attack, an obvious target for long balls given his height, but surprisingly adept in his holdup play and clever in the timing of his runs. He was a centre back at his previous club, Athlone Town, and the decision to reinstate him in that role is looking like a masterstroke.
Dundalk find stylish first victory
Ciarán Kilduff deserves great credit for Dundalk’s start to the season. Friday night’s demolition of Waterford may have been their first win of the campaign, but already there had been a host of positives, with draws away at Shamrock Rovers and Derry City standing out.
Dundalk’s football has been stubbornly expansive, and even a 4-0 defeat at St Pat’s included periods of attacking quality. Of course, this was the best the Lilywhites have produced to date.
It helps when Daryl Horgan performs like he did – a goal and two assists was a modest return given the influence the 33-year-old had on the game, dizzying Waterford defenders in tight spaces and carving their shape apart with incisive through balls.
For their part, Waterford’s performance was bleak. There had been decent spells in previous games, but nothing could redeem Friday night. Jon Daly has a job on his hands preparing his side for Monday night’s visit to Galway.
Shamrock Rovers taking care of business
Outplayed for large periods and perhaps fortunate not to be down to 10 men, Shamrock Rovers buried Sligo Rovers in six prostrating minutes at the end of the first half at the Showgrounds.
It was a familiar show of strength. The champions rarely need to be at their very best to win games, and they were far from that on Friday night. But while title rivals may experience more obvious peaks and troughs in form, Rovers seem comfortable and in control.
Sligo may feel hard done by, as Pico Lopes could have conceded a penalty and a second yellow card in the first half with the score at 0-0. When Lopes was eventually sent off with 24 minutes remaining, it was merely decorative.
“For the game that it was, I thought we were very good,” Stephen Bradley said post-match, referencing a difficult pitch and suboptimal conditions.
Elsewhere, Shelbourne inflicted a damaging defeat on Derry City, piling pressure on Tiarnan Lynch whose side is looking disjointed in the early part of the season.
