Saints ease to opening win
Monday 26th February 2007, 9:52 pm
Joseph Ndo gets the better of Portadown's Richard Clarke.
Photo by Tom Carey.
26th February 2007
Setanta Sports Cup Group 2
St. Patrick's Athletic 3
Joseph Ndo 41
Alan Kirby 47, 51
Portadown 0
Richmond Park
Saint Patrick's Athletic got off to the perfect start in their Setanta Sports Cup debut, easily beating Portadown 3-0 at Richmond Park tonight.
Joseph Ndo, Alan Kirby and Gary O'Neill made their competitive debuts with two of the trio getting on the score-sheet.
Playing their first real game of the year, the Saints looked a little rusty against the in-season Irish League side.
An early Keith Fahey free kick missed the target by some margin before Kirby sliced wildly at a volley inside the box. There was however no hint of the mauling ahead as Portadown matched the Dubliners in the early going.
Gary O'Neill gets away from Portadown's Keith O'Hara.
Photo by Tom Carey.
Allan Smart failed to make a good connection with a close range header and he almost got in again on 16 minutes after a stylish flick from Gary McCutheon.
Wesley Boyle drilled a low shot narrowly wide as Portadown pressed and the home side at times over-elaborated in defence.
Smart got in behind that defence but volleyed wide at the near post as the Ports challenge began to fade.
Ndo, Fahey and Kirby began to dominate the midfield while O'Neill's constant running up front left no respite for the visitors.
O'Neill almost opened the scoring on the half hour but only glanced a header on from Colm Foley. Kevin Pressman got down well to make the save.
Michael Collins holds off the attentions of Sean O'Connor.
Photo by Tom Carey.
Ndo flashed a shot wide before Pressman again denied O'Neill after an error in defence by Michael Collins.
The two former Shelbourne players combined for the opening goal on 41 minutes. O'Neill played in Ndo and the former Cameroon international found the net wide the help of a deflection.
Fahey could have killed off Portadown hopes before the break but somehow failed to connect with Colm Foley's drilled low cross.
Pats went 2-0 up just minutes into the second half when Ndo played in Kirby and the former Longford pkayer fired home a powerful low drive.
Alan Kirby reels away in celebration, having scored twice on his Saints debut.
Photo by Tom Carey.
Chasing the game Portadown forced a 50th minute corner but it all went wrong when Fahey surged forward and played in Kirby to fire home a very similar third goal.
Portadown were beaten and whether the Saints slightly ran out of steam or just eased off, the pace of game so too eased a little.
O'Neill was unfortunate not to score on his debut while Kirby chipped over for what could have been a treble.
At times in the closing period Pats could have been accused of toying with their prey as Fahey sprayed out cross-field passes and his team-mates flicked the ball around on the edge of the box.
Alan Smart climbs all over St. Pats captain Colm Foley.
Photo by Tom Carey.
The Saints will have tougher games ahead but tonight's win wasn't far short of a perfect performance given the nature of the game being almost pre-season.
St. Patrick's Athletic : Ryan, Brennan, Frost, C Foley, Kirby, Fahey, O'Neill, M Foley (O'Connor 65), Murphy (Maguire 80), S Quigley, Ndo (M Quigley 67).
Portadown : Pressman, O'Hara, Clarke (Liggett 86), Boyle (Teggart 80), Collins, Smart (McCutcheon 56), Kennedy, McCann, Redman, Branniff, McKeown.