Derry sub keeps Pat’s waiting

Derry City 3 St Patrick’s Athletic 2

In a game which began with a whimper and ended with a bang, the Inchicore side found themselves on the losing side in a final for a remarkable seventh time since 1961, their latest efforts to end the hoodoo undone by super-sub Rory Patterson, who scored twice as Derry came back to finally edge it in extra-time.

There was a surprise in the Pat’s starting line-up with the omission of goalkeeper Barry Murphy, despite his having come through a fitness test on an injured ankle. But the man who saved three penalties in the Saints’ quarter-final penalty shoot-out victory over Drogheda Utd was consigned to the bench for the big one, manager Liam Buckley opting instead for Brendan Clarke, the keeper who was brought off ahead of the penalty shoot-out which brought Sligo victory last year but who had kept a clean sheet in the recent win over Cork.