Ryan Guy helped St. Patrick's Athletic collect a much-needed win against Bray Wanderers while Chris Konopka collected a shutout over Longford Town.
St. Patrick's Athletic 2-0 Bray Wanderers
In what turned out to be a huge confidence booster, St. Pat's moved onto 37 points after scoring twice and keeping a clean sheet against the bottom placed club in the top flight.
Guy got The Super Saints marching when his powerful header hit the back of the net on 31 minutes following a perfect cross from Stephen Maher.
The Dublin club should have doubled their lead on 40 minutes when Gary Dempsey took a penatly kick, but Bray keeper Chris O'Connor pulled off a fine save.
On 69 minutes the contest was as good as over when Damian Lynch nodded in a corner kick from Garreth O'Connor, who was superb for Pete Mahon's team in front of the Richmond Park crowd.
Bray had some chances to get back into the game and even had a penalty of their own on 84 minutes, although Stephen Brennan was unable to score against his former club.
Longford Town 0 - 4 Sporting Fingal
Chris Konopka went the full 90 minutes in goal as Sporting Fingal beat Longford Town at Flanclare Park on Sunday.
The victory pushes Fingal to within a point of second place Shelbourne in the League of Ireland First Division.
Two goals Éamon Zayed bookended scores from Stephen Paisley and Gary O’Neill to round out the scoring for the visitors who have their sights set on promotion to the Premier Division.
Zayed's first goal arrived in the fourth minute giving Liam Buckley's squad the lead. But later in the half the visitors came under fire when a Longford attack was launched in the 27th minute that required a heads-up save from Konopka who collected Stephen Gough’s shot.
Three minutes later the hosts were awarded with a penalty kick but again Konopka came to the rescue when he saved Darren McKenna's effort from the spot.
The American netminder was once again called on to stave off a Longford attack in the 34th minute when he denied Carmine Russo's shot which follwed a near miss by McKenna who rung one off the crossbar.
Longford's failure to take advantage of their scoring chances deflated the home fans which carried on to the field in the second half as Fingal stepped up and took over the match.
Paisley doubled the margin in the 59th and then 20 minutes later O'Neill put the match out of reach.
Zayed capped off the fun with a goal just one minute from time to complete the thumping for the visitors.
With three matches to play, Konopka and company sit third with 63 points, five points behind first place UCD.
Fingal return home this Friday to face Limerick. |
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