AIRTRICITY LEAGUE PREMIER DIVISION Derry City 0 St Patrick's Ath 2:ST PATRICKS Athletic finally laid their Derry hoodoo to rest following this thoroughly deserved victory over City at the Brandywell last night.

And the visitors were clearly good value for their win – they hadn’t beaten Derry in nearly four years – as they dominated possession and took full advantage of City’s lengthy injury list.

Liam Buckley’s side broke the deadlock with a timely goal on 44 minutes and, in truth, they never looked back and could have won by more. A probing cross from St Patrick’s Athletic captain Conor Kenna on the right saw the home defence go missing and the alert Darren Meenan headed home past a flat-footed Ger Doherty.

Chris Forrester had forced Doherty into a good save after just eight minutes while Davy McDaid’s first time shot was superbly touched over by St Pat’s goalkeeper Brendan Clarke six minutes later.

Having gained control, St Pat’s really should have doubled their lead minutes after the break when Christy Fagan raced into a one-on-one situation with Doherty but the goalkeeper made a vital stop.

Doherty then saved another Forrester effort as the home side continued to struggle when in possession and in the 64th minute, the game was over as a contest when St Pat’s struck again.

As Derry continued to squander possession, Seán O’Connor controlled a pass and from 30 yards his effort flew into the net past a helpless Doherty. There was no way back for the home side.

DERRY CITY: Doherty; Madden, McBride (Curran, 81 mins) McCallion (S McEleney, (53 mins) McCaffrey; McNamee (McGroary, 53 mins), Higgins, Molloy, McLaughlin; McDaid, Patterson.

ST PATRICK'S ATHLETIC: Clarke; O'Brien, Kenna, Browne, Bermingham; Forrester, Russell, Bolger, Rossiter (Meenan, 6 mins), O'Connor (Kelly, 81 mins); Fagan (Daly, 70 mins).

Referee: T Connolly (Dublin).