The last ever game of football played at Lansdowne Road proved to be a cracker as Derry City beat St Patrick’s Athletic 4-3 after extra-time in the FAI Carlsberg Cup final on a fittingly blustery day to say goodbye to the old stadium.
In front of a drenched 16,022 paying spectators it was City who came through in extra-time to send Stephen Kenny off, again, with a final piece of silverware.
On a bitterly cold, windswept winter Sunday it was St Pat’s who started brighter making the most of the wind, which just about favoured the Inchicore side with Michael Foley testing David Forde in the Derry goal.
But Derry began to take control soon after and it wasn’t long before Pat McCourt started to find his rhythm getting plenty of possession in midfield.
St Pat’s, and Trevor Molloy in particular, were very fortunate in the 20th minute when the journeyman striker kicked out at Derry centre-half Clive Delaney right in front of the referee, who chose to turn a blind eye to the incident.
A minute later, Saints took the lead, against the run of play, when Anthony Murphy clipped a hopeful ball over the City defence and it was midfielder Dave Mulcahy who was quickest to the loose ball, outpacing Peter Hutton and Clive Delaney before lifting the ball over the advancing Forde.
It only took City four minutes to redress the balance.
Pat McCourt picked the ball up deep in his own half and went on a jinking run skipping past two Pat’s midfielders before sliding a beautiful ball through to the ever-lively Mark Farren who smashed the ball past Barry Ryan in the Pat’s goal.
Derry continued to boss the remainder of the half with McCourt and left-back Killian Brennan giving the Saints right-hand side a torrid time despite the vocal encouragement coming from manager John McDonnell on the edge of his technical area.
Also lurking on the edge of the City technical area was Dunfermline boss Stephen Kenny who was playing more than a passive role with his former side as he barked out the orders to his former players.
The Candystripes nearly took the lead on the stroke of half-time when McCourt, again, put Pat’s on the back foot with a menacing dribble.
However, his flamboyant back-heel didn’t reach its intended target but luckily deflected to Gary Beckett who couldn’t capitalise on the good fortune and had to settle for a corner.
The swirling rain faded for a while but the wind was here to stay, as has been the case many a day in this famous, but fading, old stadium.
Sean O’Connor came on for Murphy in an attempt to bring Pat’s into the game, which resulted in a change of wings for Mark Rutherford who seemed to be given the unenviable task of thwarting McCourt’s manoeuvres.
And it paid dividends for a while with O’Connor getting lots of action down the left wing, the sub getting plenty of support from Saints’ two best players Molloy and the impressive Mulcahy who was busying himself in midfield.
Delaney came close for Derry on 59 minutes getting his header away despite being manhandled by the Saints captain Colm Foley, the header just creeping past Ryan’s right post.
Mark Quigley was then introduced for the ageing Paul Keegan to give Molloy a dig out up front and Pat’s again lifted the tempo with the added pace giving Hutton and Delaney some problems in the Derry defence.
And it was Molloy’s pace in the 75th minute that led to Pat’s second when he outsprinted Peter Hutton to a loose ball in the box with the Derry captain chopping down the former Shamrock Rovers centre-forward for a clear-cut penalty.
Molloy dusted himself down and drilled the penalty low and hard past Forde to his left to give the outnumbered Pat’s fans something to cheer about once again.
Derry introduced Gareth McGlynn and Kevin McHugh in an attempt to rejuvenate a side that was running out of time and ideas.
And it worked, the equaliser coming in the 85th minute through former UCD centre-half Clive Delaney.
It was the Pat’s hero Molloy who turned villain when a rash challenged on the edge of the box earned hot-headed Molloy a yellow card and City a free in a dangerous position.
Brennan made his way across the pitch to whip in a left foot free that was only half cleared to the edge of the box, where the sublime McCourt helped the ball back into the danger area allowing Delaney flick a backward header cleverly past former College teammate Ryan for the City equaliser.
A Molloy header was the last action of normal time as the teams got the better of the weather to produce a cup final worthy of the occasion that surrounded it.
Sean Hargan was introduced for City to allow Brennan to concentrate pushing forward and it nearly paid immediate dividends when Hargan himself pushed on to pick up a loose ball and drill inches wide of the far post eight minutes into extra time.
Sub McGlynn then wasted a glorious opportunity as City broke with a man to spare but his over-hit pass went beyond McHugh and over the touchline.
And it was the Saints who punished City’s wastefulness when subs O’Connor and Quigley combined to set up the former to drill Pat’s into a 3-2 lead.
McHugh almost levelled a minute later with a rasping shot but this time Pat’s held on until the break with their noses in front – just.
City started the second period of extra time in top gear and forced a corner two minutes later.
The resulting kick flew across Saints’ six-yard box with Stephen Brennan failing to get a full header on the ball, allowing man of the match Hutton to steam in at the back post to tie the game once again.
Pat McCourt almost wrapped up another sensational performance with an individual goal with eleven minutes remaining but the impressive Ryan again kept Pat’s in the game with a fine save with his legs.
And it was the unfortunate Brennan again who failed to clear another corner from the far side a minute later as his glancing header was deflected into the Pat’s goal by Michael Foley who could only manage to put the ball into the roof of the net.
Derry held on to claim their second cup of the season and allowed the cold but content crowd to bid farewell to both Stephen Kenny and the creaking old stadium at Lansdowne Road.
