Junior Foyles St Pat’s hopes
DERRY CITY moved to within a point of third placed Sligo Rovers as Junior Ogedi Uzokwe’s second-half header all but ended St Patrick’s Athletic’s title hopes at Brandywell.
The Saints were dominant in the first half of a thrilling encounter but the in-form Ogedi-Uzokwe netted his fourth goal in five games to give Derry a fighting chance of clinching an automatic European spot with six games to go.
Substitute Ronan Coughlan saw red moments after coming off the bench after elbowing Ciaran Coll.
And Derry left-back Danny Lafferty was shown a second yellow by referee Rob Harvey for his part in the melee which followed.
Nathan Gartside then produced a stunning double save in the final minutes of the match to ensure a precious victory for the Foylesiders.
Joe Thomson returned to Derry’s starting lineup after his three-match ban and Coll and Evan McLaughlin both came back into the team, with Jack Malone and Bastien Hery on the bench.
Defender Lee Desmond made his first start in eight weeks following his head injury sustained against Waterford.
Billy King was the second change for the Saints.
Derry’s first effort on target arrived on 18 minutes when Ronan Boyce chipped a searching ball in towards McGonigle who forced a smart save from Saints keeper Vitezslav Jaros
The Dubliners began the second half on the front foot and Darragh Burns forced Gartside to parry clear his curling strike from the right side of the Derry penalty area. area
Derry stunned the Saints on 63 minutes following a swift counter attack started by substitute Jack Malone who won the ball just inside his own half.
The midfielder sent McGonigle scampering clear on the right wing and his searching inswinging cross was met by the head of Ogedi-Uzokwe, who got in front of Sam Bone and guided the ball past Jaros from close range.
Striking
Substitute Coughlan was on the pitch for less than 60 seconds before striking Coll.
After much deliberation match referee Mr Harvey showed the striker a straight red.
And Derry defender Lafferty followed him down the tunnel shortly afterwards for his part in the melee which ensued as Coll received treatment on the pitch.
Gartside came to his side’s rescue with a stunning double save to deny Bone and then Matty Smith’s follow-up from close range.
DERRY CITY: N Gartside
8; E Toal 7, C McJannet
7, C Coll 7; R Boyce 8, C Harkin 8, J Thomson 7, D Lafferty 6; J Ogedi-Uzokwe 8, E McLaughlin 6 (J Malone 7, 58), J McGonigle 8 (W Fitzgerald 6, 90).
ST PAT’S: V Jaros 7; S Bone 6 (K Nwoko 6, 90), L Desmond 6, J Abankwah 7 (R Coughlan 4, 82), S Griffin 6 (I Bermingham 6, 73); D Burns 7, J Lennon 6 (R Benson 6, 73), A Lewis 6, M Smith 8; C Forrester 8, B King 6 (J McClelland 6, 73).
Referee: Rob Harvey (Dublin).