St Pats - 1 Cork City - 0:FAI Premier Division: It seemed hard to believe through much of this desperately disappointing encounter at Inchicore that only a few short seasons ago these two were embroiled in a two-way battle for the championship.Emmet Malone reports from Richmond Park.
The Dubliners triumphed on that occasion and last night it was the home side's supporters who were celebrating again.
Why wouldn't they have been? Relegation is now no more than a mathematical possibility for Pat Dolan's side.
Colm Foley scored the goal that inched Drogheda that bit closer to the play-offs with a well-placed header and, in doing so, the centre back also managed to severely dent City's hopes of playing European football this summer.
City had arrived badly needing a win to put them ahead of Shamrock Rovers in the race for the InterToto cup spot, but their record on the road this season can hardly have intimidated even a St Patrick's side whose erratic home form has done much to leave them languishing at the wrong end of the table.
Perhaps it should have been predictable then that while both sides appeared capable of conceding goals neither showed much inclination to score any, at least not until the arrival of Mbabazi Livingstone injected some much-needed pace and creativity into the game.
Kevin Doyle, making a final appearance for the Dubliners before heading to the Emirates this morning, had looked lively from the start up front as did John O'Flynn for the visitors, but neither looked quite capable of making a decisive impression.
The former's problem for much of the game was the need to drop back into midfield if he wanted to see anything of the ball while, in contrast, the City striker found himself chasing a succession of overhit lost causes that Séamus Kelly had little trouble collecting around the edges of his area.
Between the frontlines there wasn't a huge amount to shout about during a disappointing first half. Neither midfield appeared capable of retaining possession for more than a couple of passes, but it scarcely mattered much when the ball came back so quickly anyway.
Had Greg O'Halloran connected better with his attempted volley 10 minutes in, things might have been slightly different, but the shot flew wide while Michael Holt's attempt to open the scoring a quarter of an hour later was far too close to Michael Devine to seriously test the former Waterford United goalkeeper.
Billy Woods, whether he meant it or not, came closest to opening the scoring in the first half when Trevor Croly badly mistimed his attempt to cut out a Neil Horgan pass and the winger's floated ball from wide on the left flew just the wrong side of the cross bar.
It was more than an hour in, however, before the game produced a save of any quality, Devine this time getting down well to his left to stop a low Holt shot after Doyle had done nicely down the left.
Seven minutes from time, Devine had to react at least as quickly when his initial blunder as he came to meet a long ball at the edge of his area almost let Tony Bird in. Had the home side's striker managed to find the net you could hardly have dreamt up a more fitting winner given the quality of the contest.
In the end, though, Foley managed to rise above the occasion as well as the City defence with a minute of regular time remaining to end his team's relegation worries as the Dubliners suddenly found some attacking rhythm in a late flurry inspired by Mbabazi.
Within a minute of so of the goal, the Ugandan might have had a second when another Casey free spilled out of Devine's hands and the goalkeeper managed to keep the follow-up out with his legs despite not appearing to know too much about it.
It mattered little, though. One was enough to leave City facing into yet another long and lonely bus journey home without anything to show for their troubles.
ST PATRICK'S ATHLETIC: Kelly; Croly, Foley, Harris, Casey; Kelly, Osam, Donnelly, Holt; Bird (Mbabazi, 84 mins), Doyle (Griffin, 92 mins).
CORK CITY: Devine; Carey, Daly, Murray, Horgan; O'Halloran, Reynolds (Warren, 73 mins), Bennett, Woods; O'Flynn, O'Callaghan (CP O'Brien, 80 mins).
Referee: D Hanney (Dublin).
