In reserve if Stewart leaves
did so again after 34 minutes with the striker’s low effort almost brushing the outside of the post.
But his moment was to come again four minutes before the break.
Michael Duffy’s corner f lashed across the County box from the left and ref Bobby Madden ruled that McEveley had shoved O’Hara.
Loy stepped up and sent Scott Fox the wrong way from the spot to double the lead.
County might have been dead and buried in first-half stoppage time as O’Hara surged clean through the middle only to hit the side-netting.
The temptation for McIntrye’s men was to overcommit – and the impulse Kilmarmock Motherwell minutes after Killie cut the deficit through Martin Smith.
A good four-man move ended with Greg Taylor crossing for the Killie sub to nod into the net.
Souleymane Coul ibaly had a strong penalty shot waved away in the dying seconds as things got frantic but Motherwell held on.
McGhee said: “I’m delighted. They made us work for it all the way.
“In the first half they stepped on to us. But even under pressure we still found that little bit of composure to make a pass and get us up the park.
“We found that little bit of quality for the first goal and goals change games. It’s important who gets the first goal and we got it.
“The second hal f we started brilliantly and scored the second.
“When it goes 2-1, they’re going to bombard you. They put Kris Boyd up front and he’s a nuisance. A lot dropped for them but we held on and over the piece we deserved to win.
“The referee was just about right with the penalty claim. We also had a claim and it balanced itself out.”
The only downside for McGhee was a serious head gash for Carl McHugh after a clash with Dean Hawkshaw. It could put him out of cost County dearly in 62 minutes as Dundee made it 3- 0.
On the break, Loy’s long ball found Duffy down the right and with only midfielder Ian McShane holding fort the winger easily found McGowan unmarked to squeeze a shot under Fox’s body.
Michael Gardyne, County’s best performer, had a fine strike tipped around the post by Scott Bain but the corner led to the Staggies’ goal.
From McShane’s delivery, Liam Boyce drove hard at goal and the outstretched toe of sub Curran diverted the ball past Bain.
The mini-revival came to nothing in the lashing rain and boss McIntyre Wednesday’s Betfred Cup tie against Celtic. The boss said: “It was a nasty one but he’ll ask the doc what he can wear so he can play.”
Killie manager Clark cut a bemused figure after the loss and denied he had insulted an official
On being sent to the stand, he said: “Apparently it was for foul and abusive language. It wasn’t to an official. I’ll refute that 100 per cent.
“I would have thought that, early in the game, a conversation between me and the referee would have been enough. But it wasn’t the only strange decision of the afternoon, was it?”
Clark was referring to Thomson’s call not to award his team a penalty for Ben Heneghan’s challenge on striker Coulibaly.
He said: “I’ve seen the footage a couple of times over and there was an opportunity for a penalty.
“What it certainly wasn’t was a foul by Souly. That was a double whammy. That was another strange one to add to the list.”
Clark also explained the reduction in pitch size for the game. He said: “The people who put the pitch down have to do the changes and the only time they could do it was this week. It wasn’t us being tricky.” was left to reflect on the penalty that put Dundee in command.
He said: “The spot-kick was a big moment. I have watched it again and there is contact with his arm so I don’t have any complaints.
“The biggest thing for me will be the consistency and whether we also get those kind of decisions because there was a lot of bumping and barging going on.
“We had to try to get back into the game and there was a lot of positives in the way we worked hard for that.
“However, the way we lost the third goal was really poor. The organisation side of things has to be a lot better.”