St Patrick’s Athletic staged a dramatic late comeback to defeat a stubborn Drogheda United 3-2 at United Park.
Strikes from Gavan Holohan and Peter McGlynn had given Drogheda the lead following Conan Byrne’s early opener but the Inchicore side made their dominance count in the end with a Daire Doyle own goal and a poachers finish Christy Fagan at the death.
The Saints took the lead on nine minutes as Byrne cut in from the right before unleashing an unstoppable drive into the top corner of the net from 25 yards, his fifth goal against the Boynesiders this season.
The in-form Holohan was a bright spark throughout for the hosts and he brought the first save out of Brendan Clarke following excellent approach play from Carl Washe.
Despite being under the cosh for most of the half, Drogheda levelled matters just before the interval as O’Neill expertly controlled a long ball before teeing up Holohan and the midfielder cut inside the Saints defence to fire a low shot into the far corner of Clarke’s goal.
The Dublin side pushed for the lead in the second half as Fahey and substitute Chris Forrester went close although the best chance fell the way of leading goal scorer Fagan who was denied by a last ditch tackle from Ciaran McGuigan.
United completed the surprise turnaround on 71 minutes with O’Neill the creator once again as he passed to Peter McGlynn who fired a thunderous effort in off the underside of the bar.
There was to be a dramatic end to the game, though, as the Saints scored twice in the final two minutes. Firstly, Daire Doyle diverted the ball into his own goal from Fagan’s cross and the league’s leading goal scorer had the final say as he slipped the ball beyond Schlingermann in injury time.
There was more late drama at the Brandywell where A disastrous defensive error cost Derry City dearly as they went down 2-1 to Limerick.
With the game heading for a share of the spoils, young full-back, Mark Timlin, sliced his defensive clearance into the path of the startled Rory Gaffney and Limerick’s top striker made no mistake when sweeping the ball home from close range in the 90th minute.
Derry boss, Peter Hutton, made five changes from the team which started against Shamrock Rovers in Tuesday FAI Cup semi-final victory and while this game did not match the intensity of the cup match, both sides went all out for victory.
And following a first half which saw both teams fail to break the deadlock, Limerick opened brightly in the second half and they broke the deadlock in the 58th minute.
Striker, Gaffney, directed a shot at the Derry goal which was parried by keeper, Ciaran Gallagher, and Shane Duggan played a captain’s role when squeezing the rebound home.
However, that lead lasted just five minutes when the Candystripes restored parity.
Stephen Dooley’s attempted shot was charged down by a defender and when the winger then lobbed the ball back into the danger area, the unmarked Barry McNamee found the net with a downward header.
Then came that last minute winner which sees Limerick join Derry City in sixth place in the Premier Division table.
A late equaliser from Eamon Zayed earned Sligo Rovers a 2-2 draw with Bohemians, who finished with ten men, at Dalymount Park.
Man-of-the-match Steven Beattie looked like he had capped his and Bohemians’ night when putting them in front on 58 minutes.
Keith Buckley played the winger in on goal and Beattie did the rest, holding off a defender before finding the net with a left foot drive.
But Zayed struck on 81 minutes when heading substitute Ruairi Keating’s cross to the net off the underside of the crossbar.
Bohemians then had captain Aidan Price shown a straight red card in the third minute of stoppage time for hauling down Danny North.
Bohemians positive start counted for little as Sligo’s more direct approach carved them open a little too easily on eight minutes
Gary Armstrong swept the ball out wide right for Raffaele Cretaro to whip a low cross to the far post where North really ought to have done better than shoot into the side netting.
Cretaro and North had further chances before Sligo deservedly took the lead on 24 minutes. Paul O’Conor clinically punished a mistake by Anto Murphy when working a one-two with Zayed, before taking it on and shooting confidently past Dean Delany for a fine goal.
Poor defending from a Karl Moore corner brought Bohemians level five minutes later. Teenager Armstrong’s poor clearance fell for Buckley whose shot was turned home by Dinny Corcoran.
Strike partner Jason Byrne blew the chance to put Bohemians in front when missing a sitter four minutes into the second half, somehow shaving the crossbar from just yards out from Beattie’s excellent cross in from the right.
And Bray Wanderers will have to wait another week before ensuring their Premier Division survival, after Sean O'Connor 41st-minute goal gave Shamrock Rovers a 1-0 win in Tallaght.
The Seagulls almost took a shock lead just 30 seconds into the contest when David Cassidy’s header was deflected into the side-netting, but after saving comfortably from Dean Kelly, Wanderers shotstopper Stephen McGuinness produced a spectacular fingertip save to deny Ciaran Kilduff on the stroke of 20 minutes.
Bray did occasionally show promise on the break through Cassidy and lone front man Jake Kelly, but their stern resistance was finally broken by the hosts four minutes before the break.
Kilduff was the supplier on this occasion, and after taking control of the Kildare native’s neat pass, O’Connor brilliantly curled a left-footed shot beyond the reach of the helpless McGuinness.
