St Patrick’s Athletic have kept their Eircom Premier League hopes alive with a 3-0 win over Derry City at Richmond Park tonight. Yet not for the first time this season the action took a back seat to events off the field with the news that there’s been an irregularity in the registration of a second St Patrick's Athletic player, believed to be Mbabazi Livingston.
This follows the inspection of registration forms by the Chief Executive of Shelbourne, Ollie Byrne. The news comes about after the prolonged controversy over the Paul Marney affair, when the Inchicore club were docked 9 points, and then had them reinstated on appeal.
On the field, St Pat’s went ahead after 57 minutes when Paul Osam executed a delightful curling shot to give the home side the lead. Midway through the second half and St Pat’s went further ahead when Darragh Maguire headed home a Martin Russell corner. Michael Holt made certain of the points for Pat’s with a goal on the stroke of full-time.
In the end, this was a convincing win for St Pat’s but unfortunately activities off the field could yet render tonight’s game and others meaningless in terms of winning the championship.
Filed by Tom Grealis
