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Mason Melia celebrates scoring his side's second goal with Brandon Kavanagh. Dan Clohessy/INPHO

Melia on target again as St Pat's defeat Waterford for third win on the bounce

St Pat’s are now two points behind fifth-placed Waterford.

St Patrick’s Athletic 3
Waterford 0

TEENAGER MASON MELIA scored for the third match running as St Patrick’s Athletic made it three league wins on the bounce for the first time this season.

Having hit their winner in Dundalk last time out, 16-year-old striker Melia added to Zach Elbouzedi’s opener in capping a dominant first half by Stephen Kenny’s side as they beat Blues for the first time in six games.

Aidan Keena scored a late third as St Pat’s, who, though they remain seventh, are now two points behind fifth-placed Waterford and five off third place with six games to play.

Brimming with confidence, St Pat’s started positively, coming within inches of the lead inside three minutes.

Anto Breslin found Chris Forrester down the inside left channel with a ball out of defence. The Saints talisman laid it into the path of Brandon Kavanagh whose first time shot came back off Sam Sargeant’s crossbar.

Minutes later, Sergeant, back between the Waterford post following an eight-week lay off with a wrist injury, turned Kavanagh’s deceptive delivery round a post.

Sergeant had to be at his best again on 24 minutes with the save of the first half as St Pat’s mainlined the pressure.

Kavanagh, central to much of St Pat’s attacking threat, spun Rowan McDonald to let fly with a shot that was destined for the top corner before Sargeant pushed it round a post.

It was the half hour before Blues threatened, skipper Barry Baggley forcing Joseph Anang to touch his arced delivery out for Waterford’s first corner of the night.

Sprung to life, Blues worked Anang again four minutes later.

Baggley and Padraig Amond set-up wingback Ryan Burke whose drive was batted away by the keeper.

Just when Waterford thought they had got a foothold in the game, they were suckerpunched on the counterattack as St Pat’s took a 36th minute lead.

Kavanagh was again instrumental, finding the run of Elbouzedi who skipped beyond Burke to outfox Sergeant and shoot home at the near post for his first league goal for Saints.

With the game having opened right up, Waterford might have been level within a minute, Anang getting down well to Amond’s snapshot.

St Pat’s went straight down the other end to punish poor defending to double the lead on 38 minutes.

In trying to flick the ball clear, Baggley merely succeeded in touching Jake Mulraney’s pass into the path of Melia who didn’t break his stride as he blasted to the roof of the net.

Chasing the game, Waterford were first to threaten on the resumption, Burke drilling wide from Amond’s skilful lay off.

Though Keith Long’s side continued to enjoy plenty of the ball, St Pat’s kept their shape well with Anang a solid presence behind a defence well marshalled by skipper Joe Redmond and Tom Grivosti.

Two substitutes then combined to add St Pat’s third goal on 78 minutes.

Kian Leavy surged forward to feed the ball to Keena.

And though the striker’s drive came down off the underside of the crossbar and bounced out, assistant referee Darren Carey flagged that it had crossed the line.

St Patrick’s Athletic: Anang; Sjoberg, Redmond, Grivosti, Breslin; Lennon, Forrester; Elbouzedi (Leavy, 63), B. Kavanagh (McClelland, 84), Mulraney (Turner, 63); Melia (Keena, 75).

Waterford: Sargeant; Horton (Flynn, 82), Leahy, Radkowski; Power, McDonald, Baggley (McCormack, 82), McMenamy (Glenfield, 82), Burke; Amond, Bellis (Arubi, 87).

Referee: Neil Doyle (Dublin).

Attendance: 4,237.

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    Mute Willy Motley
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    Mar 20th 2019, 4:51 PM

    You made a show of yourself. From the bus incident to this very day. Used to be a massive Mcgregor fan but lost all respect for him at this stage. Wish he’d actually step away from the sport. They should just call him money Mcgregor

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    Mute Bungee Aky
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    Mar 20th 2019, 4:55 PM

    @Willy Motley: all mouth. I never listened to the stuff that went on outside the cage, but watched keenly what happened inside, and there used to be a difference, now he is just a joke inside and outside. He won’t resurrect his career now with all that has happened unless he drops down the weight again.

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    Mute Tom Kenny
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    Mar 20th 2019, 6:00 PM

    @Bungee Aky: A fighter that has never successfully defended either title that he won in UFC.. Absolutely joke that he has the name he has..

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    Mute Bungee Aky
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    Mar 20th 2019, 6:51 PM

    @Tom Kenny: he did well while he was on the way up, but he cut his own time at the top short and the fall was quicker than the rise. No humility, no class, no longevity. He will be remembered as the best, greatest, brightest flash in the pan that ever happened.

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    Mute Kieran Fogarty
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    Mar 20th 2019, 5:27 PM

    He was more interested in promoting his whiskey..how couldnt you give someone like Khabib no respect, the man never lost a round in 20 odd fights

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    Mute Desmond Cassidy
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    Mar 20th 2019, 5:05 PM

    Who cares ??

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    Mute Bungee Aky
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    Mar 20th 2019, 5:25 PM

    @Desmond Cassidy: you do apparently.

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    Mute Stanley Baggins
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    Mar 20th 2019, 5:36 PM

    If Mcgregor gets another crack at Khabib and beats him then he’ll be a big hero again. But he seems to have lost the hunger. He has shown with Nate Diaz that you can never write him off but he seems to have been on a downward spiral since the Mayweather money rolled in.

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    Mute Nollaig Elliot
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    Mar 20th 2019, 6:00 PM

    @Stanley Baggins:

    Motivation or not, he’ll never beat Khabib even if he fights him 100 times.

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    Mute Adeel McDangerson
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    Mar 20th 2019, 6:00 PM

    @Stanley Baggins: lol not happening.

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    Mute Paul Browne
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    Mar 20th 2019, 11:05 PM

    I will give the guy credit for mouthing his way to the top, but not a nice guy in or outside the octagon/ring, he could of really been an Irish legend but his behavior has made him nothing more then a laughing stock, money won’t buy him class something he is seriously lacking,

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    Mute Dylan Doherty
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    Mar 20th 2019, 7:24 PM

    The money mayweathers ruined him.

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    Mute baw baw
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    Mar 21st 2019, 10:36 AM

    Aldo done it for 10 years and was caught naively in 13 seconds as he was beyond wound up.
    McGregor lauded his own talking game and aldo never got his rematch shot.
    McGregor says he was caught in a fight where he wasn’t up to much and ended in his second loss and should get a rematch just because.
    With his stardust waning and a bit of perspective its easier for people to see hes the Kardashian of UFC , took on a persona popular with the majority and played it expertly through modern media.
    A distasteful genius with talent in all the wrong places.May he and the rest of the kardashian culture be plagued with no privacy and a life in the public eye for selling there souls for a few million quid.

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    Mute Sean
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    Mar 21st 2019, 11:58 AM

    @baw baw: @baw baw: To write McGregor off as nothing more than Khardasian culture is a bit revisionist, while in recent times he has become a mere parody of himself, it would be foolish to discard how good he was at his peak.

    His persona only became what it was through his huge performances on the biggest stage. Against both Mendes and Aldo he heaped pressure on himself by talking a big and confident game and backed it up in the octogon. Without those performances his quick wit would have been nothing more than a cheap novelty. He has proven himself against a lot of top fighters and his lose to Khabib doesn’t take anything away from that.

    I do however agree that he is not entitled to an immediate rematch and nor should he want one, he needs to tune up, get a few wins under his belt and his head back in the game before he could pose any threat to Khabib.

    The idea that he could come back after two years on the session and beat him in the first place was ludicrous and thinking he could jump straight back in with him now is even more so.

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