- Extratime Team
- Sat, May 27 2023
It was a case of home comforts in the Premier Division on Friday night as three of the four home sides took the spoils.
At Turner's Cross, Ruairi Keating proved himself the matchwinner for the second week in a row as his late strike deprived eight man Shamrock Rovers of a share of the spoils.
Simon O'Gorman's report here provides us with some more insight into a game which saw Richie Towell, Johnny Kenny and Sean Hoare all dismissed from the field of play.
With ninth place Cork City picking up their fourth win of the campaign, the game between Drogheda United - in eighth - and bottom of the table UCD took on extra significance.
The Students took the lead at Weaver's Park as defender Adam Wells netted for the second week in a row.
However, much like at the Ryan McBride Brandywell Stadium last weekend it proved to be a mere consolation as a brace from Lincoln City loanee Freddie Draper saw the Boynesiders take a lead into the break.
Ex Shelbourne winger Dylan Grimes netted a third for the hosts as they followed up last Friday's victory at Tallaght Stadium with another three point haul to remain a point clear of eighth place Sligo Rovers- having played a game more than the westerners.
Third placed Bohemians cut the gap to Shamrock Rovers to three points as they played out a scoreless televised encounter with Shelbourne.
For the hosts, an Ali Coote free kick which struck the woodwork in the first half was the closest they came to breaking the deadlock while Shelbourne's Gavin Molloy was denied by James Talbot in the dying embers of the second half.
Despite the frustration of not scoring, both managers will at least have been satisfied with the return to play of pivotal attackers for the respective outfits- Bohemians' James Akintunde featuring for the first time since April 1st as he replaced Jonathon Afolabi midway through the second half.
For Shelbourne, Sean Boyd saw his first twenty minutes of competitive action since mid February.
The final game from the Premier Division was the Richmond Park encounter between St Patrick's Athletic and Dundalk.
The hosts had appointed Jon Daly on a permanent contract during the week and his side drew first blood with Mark Doyle pouncing to convert a Nathan Shepperd parry.
Jake Mulraney's teasing delivery forcing the Welsh stopper to claw the ball out of his bottom corner and back into his six yard box on the half hour mark.
After losing Carl Sjoberg to injury ealry on, the Athletic suffered another blow to their defence with moments left in the first half - Tom Grivosti tumbling to the turf in his own penalty after attempting to stop Pat Hoban- the Englishman's departure on a stretcher following a lengthy delay was hopefully more precautionary than anything else.
Following a triple substitution at half time, Stephen O'Donnell's side tied the scores early in the second period. West Brom loanee Rayhaan Tulloch was only moments on the park before nodding a Robbie McCourt cross beyond Dean Lyness.
However, despite a red card for winger Mulraney following a coming together with Dundalk's Connor Malley, it was the Inchicore outfit who grabbed all three points.
Tommy Lonergan hustled the ball into the penalty area and his dangerous cutback found the Dundalk net courtesy of the sliding Conor Carty who crashed it off the underside of the crossbar to plunder all three points for St Pat's.
