Dundalk 0 St Pat's A 1:SEÁN O'CONNOR'S 58th minute piledriver restored St Patrick's Athletic to winning ways as they overcame a relegation-threatened Dundalk side at Oriel Park last night.

O’Connor found himself in yards of space to collect a Chris Forrester pass and, without having to break his stride, he lashed the ball powerfully to the roof of the net for the game’s only goal.

The loss condemned Dundalk to a 12th defeat of the season and with just one victory since May to their name, it is no surprise to see the Lilywhites propping up the Premier Division table.

The visitors dominated possession early on but it was Dundalk who went closest to scoring with John Mountney forcing Barry Murphy into a very good stop after 12 minutes. Liam Buckley’s side continued to stretch Dundalk and Peter Cherrie was forced into saves from O’Connor and Ger O’Brien before Jake Carroll saw an effort whistle wide in the 38th minute.

Dundalk lacked any fluency in their general play but they had another decent opportunity to go in front against the run of play when teenagers Conor McDonald and Gary Shanahan combined only for the latter to see his lob clear the bar.

Dundalk boss Darius Kierans went with two strikers up top when he threw on Michael Rafter in the 53rd minute but just five minutes later St Pat’s were in front through O’Connor’s winner.

DUNDALK: Cherrie; McDonnell, Foran, Whelan (Reilly, 89 mins), Osborne; Shannon, O’Brien (Brady, 68 mins), McDonald (Rafter, 53 mins), Mountney, Shanahan; Griffin.

ST PATRICK’S ATHLETIC: Murphy; O’Brien, Kenna, Flynn, Bermingham; Chambers, Coombes (Bolger, 86 mins), Carroll; Forrester (Kelly, 88 mins), Fagan (Faherty, 78 mins), O’Connor.

Referee: P Tuite (Dublin).