Cheers and tears aplenty

LIKE any last day there were cheers and tears aplenty. The winners were St Patrick's, naturally, who celebrated their title in style with a 3-0 rout of Shelbourne in the Cup final rehearsal; Sligo Rovers, who made sure of their place in the InterToto Cup, and the great escapologists Athlone, who secured a play off with Home Farm/Everton. Alas, Drogheda were relegated for the third time in the 1990s.

Having seen a 12 point gap eaten up in 11 games, Drogheda needed to equal Athlone's draw in Derry so as to avoid immediate relegation, but were beaten by Padraig Moran's 71st minute penalty. "It's a sad day for the club,"

whispered a suitably mournful Jim McLaughlin. "That's the biggest disappointment in nearly 40 years."

His Sligo counterpart Steve Cotterill magnanimously shared the widespread sympathy for Drogheda when declaring: "I feel very sorry for Drogheda. I'm not saying Athlone deserve to go down but Drogheda don't deserve to go down. They're a great footballing side."

Up in the Brandywell, an embittered Derry had vowed to avenge last season's loss of the title in Athlone and when Paul Curran converted a 42nd penalty it seemed as if it would indeed be "payback time". However, 11 minutes from time Warren Parkes equalised with, a spectacular overhead kick.

Athlone manager Tony Mannion criticised comments from Derry manager Felix Healy and Curran, saying "There's no place for that kind of talk in League of Ireland football." Home Farm/Everton secured third place in the First Division with a scoreless draw at home to already promoted Finn Harps, and it is expected that the two legged play off will be conducted between now and next Monday's FAI Cup final.

With that in mind St Patrick's struck a timely psychological blow at Richmond Park, where a carnival day was capped by the presentation of the league trophy by the League president Michael Hyland and the Bord Gais representative Tommy Ellis.

"It was a very special day for me, said Brian Kerr afterwards.