Dundalk 5

St Pat’s 0

Niall Newberry reports from Oriel Park

DUNDALK TONIGHT TORE apart St Patrick’s Athletic, recording an emphatic 5-0 home victory over the sorry Saints to bag their first win in this season’s SSE Airtricity League.

Goals from Patrick Hoban, Louie Annesley and Rayhaan Tulloch in the first half, and then Daniel Kelly and Connor Malley in the second, capped off a memorable night for Dundalk.

It was an explosive start from Stephen O’Donnell’s side, who took the lead after just five minutes, with Kelly drawing a foul from Anto Breslin, resulting in a Dundalk a free-kick.

What followed was a superb delivery from the right by Malley, whose set-piece was on the head of the unmarked Hoban, as he planted the Lilywhites into an early 1-0 lead.

And O’Donnell’s team made it 2-0 on 15 minutes, with St Pats failing to clear another Malley free, with Annesley eventually finishing via a right-field Hayden Muller cross.

It could have been 3-0 before the 20-minute mark when Greg Sloggett’s cross from the right found Kelly, but his goalbound attempt was deflected just wide by Joe Redmond.

The resulting corner taken by Malley was again not properly cleared by the St Pat’s rearguard, allowing Johannes Yli-Kokko to fire over the crossbar from outside the box.

A strong travelling St Pats support witnessed their side’s first effort on 23 minutes, but Jake Mulraney could only drag his long-range shot straight into the arms of Nathan Shepperd.

They almost pulled a goal back when a good ball over the top from Jamie Lennon released Chris Forrester out on the left flank, and his cross looked like it was going to be finished by Mulraney, who probably didn’t count on the excellent intervention of Darragh Leahy.

At the other end, Tulloch was causing serious problems for St Pats, and a neat exchange between himself and Malley preceded the lively West Bromwich Albion loanee skipping the challenge of three opposing players before forcing David Odumosu into a low save with his feet.

The Lilywhites were very nearly caught out five minutes before the half-time break, however, when Mulraney’s right-sided free crashed off the far post, before Lennon’s shot was then blocked out by Malley, while St Pats captain Redmond diverted wide after that.

Dundalk again added to their lead six minutes after the restart through Tulloch, who finished after Muller’s initial shot had been parried straight into his path by Odumosu.

Two minutes later, it was 4-0, with Sloggett’s pass finding Kelly, whose touch took him away from Noah Lewis and through on goal before he slotted past the St Pat’s goalkeeper.

Dundalk almost grabbed a fifth 10 minutes from time, with substitute Keith Ward dragging a shot across the face of goal before it trickled inches wide of the far post.

They did get a fifth on 84 minutes as Malley had time to pick his spot, rolling into his bottom right-hand corner following what was good perseverance from Cameron Elliott.

Dundalk: Nathan Shepperd; Hayden Muller, Andy Boyle, Louie Annesley, Darragh Leahy (Wasiri Williams 88); Greg Sloggett, Johannes Yli-Kokko (John Martin 67); Daniel Kelly (Keith Ward 67), Connor Malley, Rayhaan Tulloch (Cameron Elliott 77); Patrick Hoban (Ryan O’Kane 77).

St Patrick’s Athletic: David Odumosu; Sam Curtis (Tom Grivosti 54), Joe Redmond, Noah Lewis, Anto Breslin; Vladislav Kreida (Conor Carty 69), Jamie Lennon (Thomas Lonergan HT); Jake Mulraney (Thijs Timmermans 69), Chris Forrester, Mark Doyle; Eoin Doyle (Serge Atakayi 61).

Referee: Paul McLaughlin

Attendance: 3,487.