Patterson saves point but Derry forced to settle for fourth place

A BRILLIANT strike from Rory Patterson rescued a point for Derry City against St Patrick’s Athletic in their last game at Maginn Park.

The striker fired in from 20 yards for his fourth goal of the season to cancel out Killian Brennan’s opener.

While the Candystripes didn’t get the third-place finish they hoped for due to Shamrock Rovers’ win over Limerick — they ended up fourth — they had Europa League football secured, while St Pat’s got the point they needed to avoid relegation.

St Pat’s took the lead on 26 minutes when Michael Barker raced into the Derry area and his low cross found Brennan, whose shot deflected off Conor McDermott and past Eric Grimes.

The Candystripes could have been on level terms within two minutes of the restart as Aaron McEneff hit a superb half-volley, but it was superbly saved by Lukasz Skowron.

As brilliant as that save was, the goalkeeper was picking the ball out of his net within 60 seconds as Patterson received the ball on the edge of the area before swivelling and firing into the net for the equaliser.

Derry City: Grimes, McDermott, Jarvis, McEneff, McNamee, Monaghan, Curtis (Doherty 86), Patterson, Cole, Schubert (McIntyre 69), Barry.

St. Patrick’s Athletic: Skowron, Barker, Bermingham, Peers, Byrne, Kelly, Fagan (O’Connor 65) Brennan, Desmond, Byrne, Dennehey.

Referee: Rob Rogers.