Gavin Cooney reports from Richmond Park

St Patrick’s Athletic 0

Derry City 4

MUCH OF THE pre-season speculation centred on whether it would be Derry City or St Patrick’s Athletic who were best-placed to challenge Shamrock Rovers for the title but on tonight’s evidence it was absurd to even ask the question. 

This result, coupled with Shamrock Rovers’ draw away to Sligo, leaves Derry three points clear of the champions at the top of the table and leading a title charge their manager had insisted was premature to expect this year. 

Not so.  

Derry won by a scoreline that fairly reflected their physical, technical, and tactical superiority, for this was an utter monstering. Derry were fabulous, playing with ferocity and conviction; Pat’s were limp, looking muddled, brittle and overwhelmed. Ruaidhrí Higgins won the game with three goals in the opening half, and garnished it with Cameron Dummigan’s long-range strike on the hour mark. 

Pat’s shook up their system by playing a back three but achieved little beyond leaving themselves all shaken up. It wasn’t the first time this season they started so – doing so in a win away to Finn Harps in March – and they also finished the late 2-1 loss to Derry earlier this year in that system, but tonight it was abandoned at half-time, at which point Pat’s had been chased, chastened, and left 3-0 down. 

They spent the opening 15 minutes of the game in the teeth of a Derry storm from which they were lucky to emerge only a goal down. Actually, no: Pat’s were lucky to get nil.

Perhaps the change of system was to give Pat’s an extra body to play around Derry’s terrific press, but if that was its intention, it had zero effect. Derry were happy to allow Pat’s try to play out, as from there they continually lost possession under even slight pressure. In terms of the laying on of traps, it was best visualised by the image of Sideshow Bob stepping on rakes. 

It began as early as the fifth minute: Matty Smith charged back to dispossess Adam O’Reilly and then sauntered into the box with perfect timing to meet a velvet lay-off from Brandon Kavanagh and prod the ball into the bottom corner.

Pat’s baffling torpor was next saved by a controversial offside decision. They defended a corner and the home crowd sensed a counter-attacking opportunity when the ball broke for O’Reilly on the edge of the box, but he then turned and fell onto the ball.

By the time he picked himself up he was closed down by two Derry defenders, and the ball broke to Jamie McGonigle in the box who rifled into the top corner. The offside flag popped up but Derry were furious: they believed the ball had come to McGonigle off the Pat’s player. 

It took until after the quarter-hour for Pat’s to finally string some passes together and relieve some pressure, and that spell ended when Joe Redmond was easily robbed of the ball by Patching, who should have done more than shoot rather tamely wide. 

A frustrated Jack Scott of St Patrick's Athletic. Bryan Keane / INPHO Bryan Keane / INPHO / INPHO

The chasm between the sides wasn’t just athletic, with Derry technically better, and the second goal arrived on the half-hour mark. Patching twice dummied shots in the penalty area – twice sending a Pat’s player skidding helplessly to the ground – before pushing the ball left for Smith, whose drive across the box was diverted into the net by McGonigle. 

Pat’s created little but Redmond should have instantly pulled a goal back, meeting a the second phase of a corner by volleying the ball out of the ground from all of six yards. Instead three minutes before the break, Pat’s plight was deepened and Derry’s dominance given adequate return. Once again Pat’s gave the ball away, the terrific Kavanagh sent McGonigle galloping clear, who slotted unerringly beyond Anang. 

A firework screamed from the Derry end and erupted above the pitch; boos rumbled from the Pat’s fans. 

Tim Clancy reverted to a back four at half-time but Derry picked up from where they left off, forcing a series of corners from which they eventually worked a smart routine and hit the post, from which the rebound was put over the line but made moot by another offside flag. 

The change in approach steadied Pat’s until Derry showed their ruthless streak on the hour mark. The provenance was yet another Pat’s giveaway, this time to McGonigle, who broke into space and fed Patrick McEleney on the right to tee up Dummigan, whose gorgeous, side-footed shot clanked off the post and beyond Anang. 

Wow, wonderful strike 😱

Cameron Dummigan gets on the scoresheet now with a brilliantly struck effort from outside the box 👏@stpatsfc 0-4 @derrycityfc

Sign up 📺 | https://t.co/7rzXOfm8p9#LOI | #LOITV pic.twitter.com/EEAO033Uef

— SSE Airtricity League (@SSEAirtricityLg) April 29, 2022

From there the game trundled without friction to its conclusion, with Pat’s night made worse by the sight of half-time substitute Ronan Coughlan limping off in the closing stages. 

Pat’s ambitions have narrowed to Europe, but Derry’s sights are fixed firmly, ominously, on Shamrock Rovers’ crown. 

St Patrick’s Athletic: Joseph Anang; Jack Scott (Ronan Coughlan, HT, Ben McCormack, 83′); Joe Redmond, Tom Grivosti, Ian Bermingham (captain); Anto Breslin; Chris Forrester, Adam O’Reilly; Darragh Burns (Tunde Owolabi, 63′), Billy King (Jason McClelland, 63′); Eoin Doyle 

Derry City: Brian Maher; Ronan Boyce (Danny Lafferty, 81′), Shane McEleney, Eoin Toal (captain), Cameron McJannet; Cameron Dummigan, Patrick McEleney (Joe Thomson, 68′); Matty Smith, Will Patching (Ciarán Coll, 81′), Brandon Kavanagh (Evan McLoughlin, 68′); Jamie McGonigle (James Akintunde, 75′)

Referee: Rob Hennessy