St Patrick’s Athletic 1 Dundalk 0
Dundalk’s pursuit of a first League of Ireland Premier Division title since the 1994-95 season suffered a setback at Richmond Park after Christy Fagan’s second minute goal gave defending champions St Pat’s the points. Dundalk, though, still top the table ahead of Cork City whilst the win keeps the Inchicore side in the hunt for a European place and mathematically still in the title race.
Pat’s took the lead on two minutes when Brian Gartland’s failed attempt to clear Conan Byrne’s cross saw the ball fall perfectly for Fagan. Pat’s top scorer this season took full advantage and slotted the ball into the bottom left corner of Peter Cherrie’s net for his 17th goal of the league campaign.
Dundalk’s Richie Towell fired over the bar on 19 minutes before Chris Forrester went close to doubling Pat’s lead on 22 minutes but was denied first by Cherrie and then by the bounce of the ball. Cherrie parried Forrester’s shot from the left but the ball spun beyond him before flashing inches wide of the post.
Cherrie made several good saves as the half progressed, the pick of them on 35 minutes when he dived at full stretch to save from Fagan, who had taken possession of the ball with his back to goal before shaking off his marker, turning and firing hard and low.
Dundalk ended the first period and began the second in top gear but couldn’t make the breakthrough their play deserved.
Boss Stephen Kenny shook things up early in the second half with a double substitution that saw David McMillan and Donal McDermott introduced for Ruaidhri Higgins and John Mountney. It didn’t do the trick though as Dundalk continued with the good play but couldn’t match it with a goal. Andy Boyle on 66 and Dane Massey in injury time had their best chances.
Cork City 1 Shamrock Rovers 0
Dan Murray's 92nd-minute winner at Turner's Cross reignited the title race as it brought Cork City to within three points of Dundalk.
It looked like being a night of frustration for the hosts, who had been without a win in four games, but Murray's header from Colin Healy's corner gave them all three points.
Despite the news from Inchicore before kick-off that St Patrick’s Athletic had gone ahead, Cork were not spurred into immediate action, barring a low John O’Flynn shot which flew past Barry Murphy’s post.
Apart from a similar effort in the 29th minute by Garry Buckley – this one needing to be diverted out by Ryan – the hosts couldn’t muster a sustained threat on the Rovers defence.
Captain Conor Kenna coped well when an O’Flynn header across goal could have caused danger and though City had a penalty shout when Simon Madden might have been adjudged to have pushed Mark O’Sullivan, referee Paul Tuite waved played on.
Only a Stephen McPhail free kick called Mark McNulty into action at the other end.
The second half brought little improvement, Kieran Waters going closest for Rovers as McNulty had to tip his dipping shot over the bar.
With 19 minutes remaining, City thought that their chance had come as Ross Gaynor's free kick fell on Murray's head but he got his effort wrong and O'Flynn couldn't reach the ball before it went wide.
As time ran out, Cork became more frantic but the focus was lacking. The late corner was their last opportunity and Murray made the most of it.
Bohemians 2 Bray Wanderers 1
Goals in either half from Dinny Corcoran and Jason Byrne proved to be significant at Dalymount Park, as Bohemians held off a strong final-quarter charge from Bray Wanderers to record their seventh league success of 2014.
A depleted Seagulls were looking to secure back-to-back league triumphs for the first time this season, but when their rearguard failed to deal with Kevin Devaney’s long-punt forward on 10 minutes, Corcoran was in the perfect position to head past the advanced Stephen McGuinness.
The Bray defence remained defiant until the interval, but disaster struck just 10 seconds after the restart, when Byrne doubled the homeside’s advantage from close-range.
A Bohs win appeared to be a formality, but Bray received a lifeline 25 minutes from the end when Byrne inadvertently bundled the ball into his own net. This helped to ignite the Bray challenge during the closing moments, but despite losing Eoin Wearen to a straight red-card in stoppage-time, the hosts emerged victorious.
Drogheda United 1 Athlone Town 1
A late equaliser from Ian Sweeney rescued a vital point for relegation-threatened Athlone Town at United Park.
Drogheda took the lead on 28 minutes. Gary O’Neill slipped the ball wide to Cathal Brady on the right side of the box, and his cut-back found Gavin Holohan who finished low to the bottom corner.
The visitors should have drawn level 10 minutes later when a John Mulroy dummy left Kealan Dillon one-on-one with Micheál Schlingermann, but Dillon’s deft dink over the Drogheda goalkeeper crept past the post.
The second-half was an even affair for long periods, but Athlone produced a late period of pressure which ultimately earned them a well-deserved point.
Schlingermann produced two saves in from Dillon on 78 and 80 minutes to keep his side ahead and that looked to have been enough, until Sweeney latched on to a loose ball in the Drogheda box to fire a last-gasp leveller.
Derry CIty 2 Sligo Rovers 1
Central defenders Aaron Barry and Ryan McBride were the goalscoring heroes as Derry City warmed up for next weekend's FAI Cup tie with a 2-1 victory over Sligo at Brandywell Stadium.
Derry totally dominated the opening 45 minutes but failed to capitalise on numerous chances and they were made to pay when former favourite Eamon Zayed scored.
Despite the setback, Derry continued to control the game and should have been level from the penalty spot on 37 minutes after Kalen Spillane upended Patrick McEleney.
McEleney himself stepped but Richard Brush was equal to his spot-kick.
Derry eventually got themselves level one minute before the break when McBride got on the end of a McEleney free to glance home.
Derry then went in front on 53 minutes when McBride's partner in defence, Barry, nipped in front of Brush to head home a McEleney corner.
Sligo chances of getting back on terms were dealt a major blow with the 77th minute with the dismissal of full-back Danny Ledwith after a second yellow card for a late tackle on Jarvis. Peter Hutton followed the Sligo full-back into the stands for something he said on 88 minutes and had to watch Paul O'Connor's late header come back off the post, but Derry good value for the win.
UCD 1 Limerick 3
Two goals from Rory Gaffney helped get Limerick back to winning ways as UCD slipped further into relegation trouble at the UCD Bowl.
Second-bottom College have taken just two points from their last eight games with Athlone Town now just three points behind.
Limerick edged a lively start to the game to take a 13th minute lead with a finely contrived and executed goal. Lee Lynch and Rory Gaffney worked the ball wide right to Ian Tuner. And his perfectly weighted cross found Gaffney in the area whose powerful downward header UCD goalkeeper Conor O’Donnell got a hand to but couldn’t keep out.
UCD enjoyed their best spell on the resumption and might have been level within five minutes. First Ian Ryan’s goal-bound volley struck the head of defender Mick Leahy. Skipper Robbie Benson then put Ayman Ben Mohamed through on goal to force Barry Ryan into making a decisive save with his feet.
UCD defender Ryan had to make an equally important interception at the other end minutes later, throwing his body in the way of Patrick Nzuzi’s low drive.
Limerick were back on top now and duly doubled their lead on 58 minutes. Gaffney raced through on to Prince’s sublime pass to turn Ryan and rifle home his second goal of the night.
Conor Cannon pulled a goal back for College from Ben Mohamed’s pass on 63 minutes but Gaffney then provided the assist for Turner to race in and shoot home Limerick’s third goal within two minutes.
