Duffy free sets Lilies on the way

GOALS in either half from Michael Duffy and David McMillan saw champions Dundalk return to winning ways against St Pat’s at Richmond Park last night. Ahead of their clash with Cork City next week the Louth men knew that nothing short of a victory would suffice, as the champions continue to trail the Leesiders by 15 points. The Lilywhites were always in the ascendancy and hit the front on 21 minutes with a stunning free-kick from Duffy curled over the wall and into the top left-hand corner of the net from 30 yards out. While Conor O’Malley could do nothing about that effort, the goalkeeper kept the home side in it before the break, pulling off two magnificent saves to deny both Patrick McEleney and Stephen O’Donnell. Liam Buckley’s side did up the ante at the start of the second half with Gary Rogers having to punch a deflected JJ Lunney free-kick away before saving the follow up from Kurtis Byrne. Substitute Robbie Benson had an effort cleared away by Michael Barker after rounding O’Malley, before Dundalk did eventually put the game to bed on 68 minutes. McMillan brilliantly collected Dane Massey’s pass on his chest before spinning away from Gavin Peers to slot past O’Malley to the bottom left-hand corner for his ninth goal of the season. Darragh Markey went close to pulling a goal back for Pat’s in the 82nd minute when he forced Rogers into a good save but by and large it was one way traffic as Dundalk sauntered to a deserved victory.