St Patrick's Athletic 1 Waterford United 0Keith Dunne eased St Patrick's relegation worries and, in doing so, inflicted further misery on troubled Waterford, who finished at Richmond Park with 10 men.

St Patrick's with five changes, just two of which were enforced, from their disappointing display at Belfield last week, were perhaps too eager to force home their first-half dominance, taking 40 minutes to break the deadlock for what proved the only goal of a fitful match.

Having survived a couple of half chances on their own goal, St Patrick's finally carved Waterford open for the first time on 21 minutes. Dunne raced onto Robbie Doyle's overhead kick only to shoot narrowly wide.

Doyle would miss a sitter on 26 minutes, toeing inches wide of a post after having cleverly robbed Waterford defender Pat Purcell, before playing a pivotal role in the build up to the only goal of the game.

Dunne ran through to collect Doyle's first-time return ball to flick a perfectly placed header past Packie Holden.

It should have been 2-0 within a minute when Doyle was put in a good position. His shot lacked any real power and direction, though, and Holden easily saved.

St Patrick's finished the game strongly with Gerard Rowe and Barry Prenderville coming close to stretching their side's lead.

Waterford allowed their frustration to get the better of them and defender David Breen was shown a straight red card on 85 minutes after an altercation with Rowe.

ST PATRICK'S ATHLETIC: Ryan; Prenderville, Caffrey, Maguire, Frost; Dunne, Maher, Donnelly, O'Connor; Doyle, Rowe. Subs: Perth for Maher (78 mins), Flood for Doyle (90 mins).

WATERFORD UNITED: Holden; Mulcahy, Breen, Purcell; Kavanagh, Grant, Lester , Crowley, Heffernan; Banville, Sullivan. Subs: Finn for Lester (65 mins), D McCarthy for Banville (65 mins), Waters for Kavanagh (81 mins).

Referee: P Tuite (Dublin).