Shamrock Rovers 1 St. Patrick's Athletic 2

St. Patrick's Athletic will be hoping that things will start to happen for the club after they earned their first league win of the season against Shamrock Rovers at Morton Stadium on Sunday.

In a game dominated by free kicks it came as no surprise that all three goals in Pat's 2-1 derby win came from set pieces.

St. Pat's went ahead in the 22nd minute when Paul Byrne hit a perfect dipping free kick from outside the box which flew into the top left-hand corner of the Rovers net.

Four minutes later, parity was restored and again the goal came directly from a free kick. Billy Woods was fouled 22 yards from the St. Pat's goal and up stepped Marc Kenny to crack the ball past Seamus Kelly, giving the former Cardiff goalkeeper no chance.

Liam Kelly, who won St. Pat's first free kick, had the last say when he outjumped the Rovers defence to head home a Paul Byrne free kick in the 79th minute.

"It was important to win this game. Remember we were without experienced players such as Paul Osam, Packie Lynch and Martin Russel," said a happy Pat Dolan.

Shamrock Rovers: Horgan, Smith, Cronin, Palmer, Dunne, Kenny, Colwell, Tracey, Woods, Grant, B. Byrne.
Subs: Vaudequin for Kenny 83; Cousins for Grant 83; Francis for B. Byrne 83.
Goal: Kenny 26
Booked: Cronin 19, B. Byrne 40, Palmer 67, Woods 77.
Sent off: Dunne 81.

St. Patrick's Athletic: S. Kelly, Croly, S. McGuinness, Maguire, Burke, P. Byrne, Foley, R. McGuinness, Griffin, McCarthy, L. Kelly.
Sub. G. Doyle for Griffin 45.
Goals: Byrne 22, L. Kelly 79.
Booked: S. McGuinness 48.
Referee: A O'Regan (Cork).