St Patrick's down to nine but not out

SOCCER/Cork City - 0 St Patrick's Athletic - 1: St Patrick's Athletic won an extraordinary eircom League contest at Turner's Cross last night when they finished with nine players against a team frustrated by a totally committed defence.

St Pat's produced the only goal in the 62nd minute, when Darragh Maguire headed in following a corner, and held on despite having only 10 men for the closing 22 minutes.

Vinny Perth was shown a second yellow card and it was little surprise Pat's pulled all remaining 10 players into deep defence as they absorbed long spells of frantic Cork pressure.

Pat's finished with only nine on the pitch after Michael Foley also attracted a second yellow card in added time.

Cork won most possession and maintained pressure for long spells but lacked subtlety and seldom stretched the St Pat's goalkeeper Barry Ryan.

The visitors consequently grew in confidence as the game went on.

Cork had started brightly. Denis Behan was a late addition - after John O'Flynn reported a reaction from his injured groin to the warm-up - and it was he who most troubled the St Pat's defence early on.

They were driven on by Joe Gamble and Colin O'Brien in central midfield and with Liam Kearney and Danny Murphy providing a useful attacking option on the left wing, there was a menace about Cork.

But St Pat's funnelled men back quickly whenever Cork won possession and it was routine for Cork to find the St Pat's goalmouth crowded by as many as nine players.

Behan was denied in the 15th minute by Barry Prenderville's chargedown of his shot, and within a minute he forced goalkeeper Ryan to a diving save with a fine header.

St Pat's broke out of defence regularly to show they had punch and penetration up front through the lively Glen Larsen and Robbie Doyle.

Larsen won possession from Neal Horgan with a tackle from behind in the 36th minute that the referee chose to ignore and fired a shot into the side netting. His low cross from the left a minute later just eluded the stretching Doyle. And with Doyle putting the ball in the Cork net only to be whistled back for offside four minutes before the interval, Cork had plenty to worry about.

Perth drew a yellow card when deemed guilty of time-wasting in the 58th minute, but Pat's scored a splendid goal four minutes later. A right-wing corner from Alan Reilly carried outside the far upright, where Robbie Doyle rescued the ball to swing it back to the far upright. There Darragh Maguire was in splendid isolation as he headed past goalkeeper Michael Devine. The fact this was the first and only corner of the game for St Patrick's told a story.

The significance of Perth's booking became apparent in the 68th minute when he tripped Roy O'Donovan to earn a second yellow and then a red, and what followed was a rearguard action by the beleaguered St Pat's that entailed daredevil defence in their penalty box.

Twice they survived penalty appeals but, with Cork opting for effort over subtlety, the task they were set was well within their compass and they celebrated at the final whistle after achieving such an unexpected victory.

CORK CITY: Devine; Horgan, Bennett, Murray, Murphy; O'Donovan, O'Brien, Gamble, Kearney; Behan, O'Callaghan. Subs: Woods for Horgan, Fenn for Behan (both 75 mins), Coughlan for O'Brien (87 mins).

ST PATRICK'S ATHLETIC: Ryan; Prenderville, Caffrey, Maguire, Frost; Brennan, Perth, Foley, Reilly; Doyle, Larsen. Subs: Donnelly for Larsen (72 mins), O'Connor for Frost (75 mins), Rowe for Doyle (83 mins).