St Patrick's regain their self-belief

The noise which accompanied Pat Dolan's departure for the dressing room at the end said it all. The majority of those who had crammed into Richmond Park yesterday had come to see the home side resume their leadership of the Premier Division and that's just what happened.

More than that, though, the Saints ended a miserable run of poor results with one of their best performances of the season. They were stronger than Rovers in every area of the pitch and looked, once again, like a team which believes it is destined for championship. Shelbourne may yet deny them that honour but try as they might yesterday Rovers simply couldn't stand in the way of the home side's progress.

The hosts scarcely overran their opponents as Rovers were good for long spells where Paul Whelan and Gino Brazil consistently frustrated a three-man St Patrick's attack, and Robert Forde occasionally confounded them.

In midfield they enjoyed more mixed fortunes, holding their own defensively but failing to seriously dent the home side's own defence. Tony Cousins looked dangerous every time he got the ball but beside him Paul Stokes was quite and Marc Kenny's set pieces aside, there was little to worry Trevor Wood from further out.

In a scrappy first half neither side settled especially well but Forde was clearly the busier goalkeeper. Under Eddie Gormley's corners he looked distinctly uncertain but when the home side's captain stepped up to take a spot kick on the half hour, after Brazil had brought down Molloy, the former Galway player guessed correctly and pushed a well struck shot well wide. It was the first of several fine saves he made over the course of the game.

Molloy, though, was to have an even greater impact on the proceedings. Over the first 30 minutes he had been quiet but after the penalty he gradually emerged as the most likely route to goal.

With Ian Gilzean looking slightly out of sorts early on and the newly-signed Leon Braithwaite still getting a handle on it all, Molloy began to tear about to considerable effect in the space around Matt Britton and Whelan.

As the game settled into a pattern of St Patrick's pressure interspersed with Rovers breaks, Molloy became a thorn in the side of the visiting defence, holding the ball up for others when required, running at and generally beating his man as the fancy took him.

With 17 minutes remaining he opted for the latter approach, cutting in from the left between Britton and another defender before laying the ball off to Trevor Croly in the centre. His right footed shot from outside the area had little chance of reaching a target so comprehensively obscured by hooped shirts but, when it took a deflection and the ball fell nicely for Gilzean, the Englishman pounced to drive home from close range.

Mick Byrne's men are not much used to losing of late and sure enough they did their best to fight back over the closing stages. They had little to show for their effort until very late on, however, when a succession of corners on the right hand side seemed to hold out the promise of an equaliser. Instead, they were caught on the break, the ball being cleared to the half-way line where Molloy first turned Brazil and bolted for goal, then pulled up and fed the ball across field to Keith Long.

By way of Paul Campbell the bal quickly reached Braithwaite who, despite having toiled relentlessly from the start, still produced a burst of speed which left everyone for dead and put him in a position to set Molloy up for the second at the far post.

Both men came in for generous praise from their manager afterwards with Pat Dolan hailing his re-jigged strike force as the difference between the two sides. "Rovers will win a place in Europe because they are a strong side and very, very difficult to break down," he said. "But Trevor and Leon were superb today and I'm delighted with the way the rest of the team performed."

On Thursday, if they perform as well in Dundalk, they may extend their regained lead at the top of the table to six points but for now, even if he does insist that they never stopped playing the way he wanted them to, Dolan will simply be pleased, that his men are once again moving in the right direction.

St Patrick's Athletic: Wood, Campbell, Lynch, Hawkins, Doyle, Morgan, Croly, Gormley, Braithwaite, Gilzean, Molloy. Subs: Devereux and Parkes for Molloy and Brathwaite (90 mins), Long for Morgan (84 mins).

Shamrock Rovers: Forde, Britton, Whelan, Brazil, Purdy, Kenny, Colwell, Morrisroe, Tracey, Cousins, Stokes. Subs: Francis and O'Neill for Stokes and Morrisroe (84 mins).

Referee: J Feighery (Dublin).