Sport

Late Finn Harps rally falls just short against St Pat's Athletic

Airtricity League Premier Division: Finn Harps 1 St Patrick’s Athletic 2

ST PATRICK’S ATHLETIC maintained their wonderful recent record over Finn Harps as they bagged the full points from their trip to Finn Park on Monday night.

The Saints went into this rearranged fixture having lost only twice against the Donegal club in their last 25 meetings. But the scoreline was flattering as Harps were the better side for long periods, and the Saints had to survive a final flurry from Harps as a late Kevin McHugh penalty set up an exciting finish.

Liam Buckley’s charges, who had been held by winless Sligo Rovers on Friday, began the game in positive fashion and forced Richard Brush into making a decent first minute save to deny Conan Byrne. And moments later, Donegal native Mark Timlin squandered another chance for the visitors.

Harps, with influential midfielder Sean Houston back in their line-up after injury, gradually came into the game but found the St Pat’s defence in a stubborn mood. Indeed, it took Harps half-an-hour before they had their first shot on target – a Ryan Curran effort from the edge of the box that was blocked.

The Inchicore side had a plea for a penalty on 32 minutes when Michael Barker ended up on the deck inside the box, but it was promptly dismissed. Harps’ best move of the half was a flowing counter-attack that ended with Houston heading just wide, although he was penalised for an infringement 10 yards out.

Man-of-the-match Houston was tormenting the visitors again on 55 minutes when he fired across the face of goal after a great run stemming from Tony McNamee. Backed by the vocal home support, Harps sensed a breakthrough and swept forward with renewed confidence as they sought their third home win of the campaign.

Ryan Curran then smacked a shot off the crossbar on 63 minutes as St Pat’s endured a tricky spell. But St Pat’s snatched the lead against the run of play as Conan Byrne floated in a 69th minute corner and goalkeeper Richard Brush appeared to misjudge the flight of the ball as defender Packie Mailey put it into his own net under pressure from Sean Hoare.

Harps battled to draw level and Damien McNulty had a shot cleared off the line but the Saints wrapped it up on 78 minutes as Timlin burst through to slot the ball past Brush. Harps scored an 89th minute penalty through Kevin McHugh but it turned out to be merely a consolation.

Harps boss Ollie Horgan was sent to the stands as tempers boiled over before the end. The result lifts St Pat’s into fourth but Buckley will know that his team could easily have dropped points on this visit to the north-west.