Flying Scotsmen put derby showdown in train
GOALS from flying Scotsmen Billy King and Matty Smith earned St Patrick’s Athletic a place in the FAI Cup final at Aviva Stadium next month. King punished sloppy defending to put the Saints in front. And while Patrick Hoban drew holders Dundalk level, Smith produced a cracking second before teenager Darragh Burns capped a man-of-the-match display with a third late on. Stephen O’Donnell side will now meet Bohemians in an allDublin decider on November 28, their first final appearance since winning the trophy for a third time in 2014. Dundalk’s first defeat in eight games means they miss out on a record seventh final in a row and are now also unlikely to make Europe for the first time in nine years.
With the kick-off delayed several minutes due to the remnants of flares on the pitch, the game almost delivered a lightning start 21 seconds in with Dundalk’s Will Patching working Vitezslav Jaros in the St Pat’s goal. The hosts punished a mistake to snatch the lead on 26 minutes. Greg Sloggett’s loose pass to Dan Cleary was pounced on by the alert King. Goalkeeper Peter Cherrie compounded the error by allowing King’s drive down the middle to beat him. Their tails up, a sweeping move almost doubled St Pat’s lead on the half-hour. Chris Forrester and King sent Ian Bermingham clear down the left, the skipper’s powerful shot arcing inches wide of a post. But a mistake at the other end would allow Dundalk right back into the game on 41 minutes. While attempting to control the ball on his chest, 17-year-old Abankwah lost possession to Patching. He treaded a pass through for the run of Hoban who slotted the ball past Jaros for his ninth goal in as many games. Subbing Abankwah at the break, St Pat’s brought on Jak Hickman as they switched to a flat back four and soon had much more about them going forward. Within 12 minutes their lead was restored with a goal of real quality. Burns played a through ball for the run of Smith in behind Cleary who finished with stunning precision, rifling his shot into the top corner. Dundalk struggled to muster a real chance of an equaliser until the 83rd minute when Patching struck a dipping volley from some 40 yards but Jaros was equal to it. Burns then added the gloss for St Pat’s on 85 minutes, racing clear from substitute Ronan Coughlan’s pass to dink the ball over Cherrie. ST PATRICK’S ATHLETIC: Jaros; Desmond, Barrett, Abankwah (Hickman, h-t); Lennon (Benson, 6), Lewis; Burns (Griffin, 89), Forrester (McClelland, 78), Bermingham; Smith, King (Coughlan, 78). SCORERS: King 26, Smith 57, Burns 86. DUNDALK: Cherrie; Dummigan (Jurkovskis, 77), Boyle, Cleary, Leahy (Ben Amar, 85); Stanton, Sloggett (Kelly, 72); Murray (McMillan, 77), Patching, Duffy; Hoban. SCORER: Hoban 41.
REFEREE: Neil Doyle (Dublin).