SAINTS STIFLE SINNING TRIBE
Galway United 0 St Patrick’s Athletic 1
ST PATRICK’S needed just 160 seconds to spoil Galway United’s Premier Division return last night.
Midfielder Jamie Lennon’s early strike was enough to send the three points back down the M6 to Dublin, while ill-discipline on and off the pitch also cost the Tribesmen dearly.
They lost Stephen Walsh to a red card with 11 minutes to go, presumably for something he said to referee Eoghan O’shea after the official waved away a Galway penalty appeal.
O’shea looked to have made the correct call but Walsh’s protest was enough to earn him a straight red (inset).
By this stage, two members of the United bench had been shown yellow cards – assistant manager Ollie Horgan and coach Chris Collopy.
The pair, along with manager John Caulfield, were animated throughout and rarely sought the shelter of their dugout as the wind and rain battered
Eamonn Deacy Park.
Defensively, Galway looked hesitant at times although they produced a handful of promising moments in the attacking half.
That hesitancy proved costly when a failure to clear Chris Forrester’s corner led to Lennon’s goal. As the ball bounced between Joe Redmond and Garry Buckley, Lennon stepped up, put his studs through the ball for an explosive finish from 10 yards.
It was a fine strike by the midfielder who found the top left hand corner, leaving United’s former St Pat’s goalkeeper Brendan Clarke stranded.
Galway did manage to steady themselves and mount a handful of attacks of their own.
Ed Mccarthy found himself at the centre of a storm during the week over his use of a stop sign as a prop in a photo shoot, just four years after he was handed a suspended sentence over the death of a man in a three-car collision.
Putting the controversy to one side last night, he picked up the ball 25 yards from goal, turned and drilled the ball low and wide of the target.
Midway through the first half, the ball dropped to David Hurley and his effort was deflected wide while Mccarthy’s glancing header from Regan Donelon’s cross moments before the break was straight at Brazilian keeper Marcelo Pitaluga.
But Lennon’s strike proved enough to secure an opening night win for Jon Daly’s title hopefuls.