Mark Quigley was the hero for a resurgent St Patrick's Athletic as they recorded with a 2-1 victory over cash-strapped Longford Town in the eircom League of Ireland Premier Division.
Pat’s did a lot of the early running in this entertaining encounter and were deservedly in front after 15 minutes.
The aforementioned Quigley got onto the end of a Pat's counter-attack but was fortunate to see his strike bounce awkwardly in front of home 'keeper Shay Kelly before flying into the net.
The same player doubled Pat's lead just eight minutes later. This time a deft flick from former Longford player Alan Kirby put the striker through and he slotted the ball past Kelly.
However, Pat's were still celebrating when Dave Mooney got the home side right back into the contest. Dave Freeman slid the ball into Mooney’s path and the Dubliner poked the ball past Barry Ryan.
Pat's were the better team after the break. Joseph Ndo tested Shay Kelly's mettle with a long range free kick on the hour mark while Gary O'Neill should have capitalised on a sloppy Kevin Doherty back header, but could only shoot badly wide with only Kelly standing between the striker and a third goal.
Longford tried to stage a rally midway through the half but could not find a way through an extremely tight and well-marshalled visiting defence.
Mark Rutherford did extremely well on his Longford debut and was involved in most things that were good about the home side.
The former Pat's man put Mooney through on goal with nine minutes remaining but the goalscorer could not work the oracle to find a second.
Gary O'Neill thought he had extended the visitors' lead in the last minute but his curling shot came back off the post.
In one last attack, Longford almost snatched a draw but Barry Ryan did very well to save at the feet of Mooney.
Longford Town: Kelly; Sullivan, Brennan, Doherty, Prunty; Freeman, Rutherford, J Martin, Wexler (Reilly 76 mins); R Martin, Mooney.
St Patrick's Athletic: Ryan; S Quigley, Foley, Brennan, Frost; Murphy (Maguire), Fahy, Ndo, Kirby; M Quigley (Rooney 66 mins), O'Neill.
Referee: P Tuite (Dublin).
