League of Ireland Premier Division: St Patrick’s Athletic 4 (Palmer 12, Edmondson 36, Breslin 52, Nugent 76) Sligo Rovers 1 (Meekison 4)
St Patrick’s Athletic go top of the League of Ireland Premier Division after brushing past a Sligo Rovers side already deep in relegation trouble.
Elsewhere, the early front-runners Bohemians drew 0-0 in Drogheda while Shamrock Rovers dropped two points away down in Waterford.
The shock of the night saw Dundalk spoil the opening of a new stand at Tolka Park as Ciaran Kilduff’s men beat Shelbourne 3-2 to stay fourth in the Premier Division.
St Pat’s manager Stephen Kenny spent the winter reassessing his tactical approach with trips over to his former Republic of Ireland assistant coaches, Keith Andrews at Brentford and John Eustace at Derby County.
Gone is Kenny’s preferred 4-3-3 with wingers sacrificed for a back-three that creates space up the pitch for Kian Leavy and Romal Palmer to exploit. It’s working.
In the past, Kenny regularly used his platform to highlight human rights issues and wrongdoings around world. The 54-year-old has found his voice again with Fifa president Gianni Infantino in his sights.
“The world of sports administration has never been known for its transparency,” began Kenny’s programme notes. “Fifa’s inaugural peace prize presentation to US president Donald Trump at the World Cup draw, followed by the controversial stripping of Senegal’s African Nations title won in Morocco, suggests that football’s relationship with politics is reaching record levels – with Fifa’s objectivity becoming increasingly questionable.”
Sligo travelled to Dublin on a low ebb. Four defeats on the trot, one win all season, four goals scored and 16 conceded has John Russell’s men second from bottom of the table. Worst of all, Jad Hakiki, their Ireland under-21 attacker, has been injured since February.
Some luck fell the visitors way inside four minutes when Archie Meekison scrambled around Joe Redmond before the former Bohemians midfielder lofted a shot (or a cross) over Joey Anang and in off the butt of the post.
It got worse for a Richmond Park crowd of 4,485, before it got much better, as Jason McClelland limped off to be replaced by Anto Breslin.
St Patrick’s Athletic’s Ryan Edmondson celebrates scoring his side’s second goal. Photograph: Bryan Keane/Inpho
St Pat’s barely broke stride and with Kian Leavy edging towards a career season, they equalised in the 12th minute as the unmarked Romal Palmer headed home Leavy’s nifty cross.
Leavy was covering every blade of grass, and the 24-year-old found himself with a choice midway through the first half: reward Palmer’s lung-busting run down the left or give Ryan Edmondson the chance to bag his fourth goal of the campaign.
Leavy picked out Edmondson but Sam Sargeant’s trailing right boot denied a certain second for St Pat’s. The English centre forward had another look moments later that drew a fantastic save from Sargeant.
The damn eventually burst when Palmer and Barry Baggley combined down the left to give Edmondson a tap-in at the far post.
St Pat’s were rampant, Leavy in particular, as he roamed around the Sligo box trying to create a killer third goal.
The otherwise excellent Baggley should have made it 3-1 before the break after swerving into the box only to shoot wide at close range.
Palmer’s quality ensured that Breslin could round Sargeant for the third goal six minutes into the second half. Last season, Kenny continually bemoaned the absence of his former Manchester City academy prospect. Everyone could see why when Palmer drew three Sligo defenders and slid a low pass for his wing back to race on to.
The worry for St Pat’s in a title race is squad depth. But the arrival of Aidan Keena, Jamie Lennon, Max Mata and Tom Grivosti in the last 20 minutes suggests they have enough bodies for the long road.
This also gave Leavy and Palmer a well earned rest as news filtered through that Podge Amond had given Waterford the lead against Shamrock Rovers. It finished 1-1 at the RSC so Sligo avoided going bottom of the league.
A good night in Inchicore was capped by Darragh Nugent scoring a fourth after Alex Nolan blasted the ball off his team-mate Oliver Denham. That about summed up Sligo’s season so far.
St Patrick’s Athletic: Anang; Redmond, Hoare (Grivosti 72), Turner; Brown, Nugent, Baggley, McClelland (Breslin 14); Leavy (Lennon 72), Palmer (Mata 78); Edmondson (Keena 72).
Sligo Rovers: Sargeant; Esua, Denham, McElory, Fitzgerald; McHugh (McDonagh 46), Quirk; McManus (Patton 64), Meekison, Nolan (Lynch 78); Traore.
Referee: Kevin O’Sullivan.