Billy King slays Dundalk as St Pat's win again to extend Rovers' wait

Fresh from scoring the opening goal in Friday’s 3-1 FAI Cup semi-final win, King scored the only goal of the game to effectively kill off the Lilywhites’ lingering European hopes

Mon, 25 Oct, 2021 - 21:53

Dave Donnelly

Premier Division: St Patrick’s Athletic 1 Dundalk 0

St Patrick’s Athletic overcame Dundalk for the second time in three days as they kept the title race going, mathematically at least, until Friday.

Fresh from scoring the opening goal in Friday’s 3-1 FAI Cup semi-final win, Billy King scored the only goal of the game to effectively kill off the Lilywhites’ lingering European hopes.

The Scottish winger produced an unstoppable shot midway through the first half to bring his tally for the season to nine in all competitions.

King’s strike came amid a bright start from the visitors, whose playmaker Will Patching forced Vitezslav Jaros to tip an early free-kick out of the top corner.

David McMillan saw his effort blocked on the line by King from the resulting corner before Liverpool loanee Jaros was again on form to deny Daniel Kelly.

Within a minute, Athletic went up the other end and took the lead as King danced inside from the right wing and smashed a shot into the bottom corner of Peter Cherrie’s net.

Dundalk thought they’d equalised when Patching’s shot flew past Jaros but referee Graham Kelly judged Greg Sloggett to be in an offside position and interfering with play.

The visitors pushed on after the break in search of a route back into the game but once again they struggled to find the final touch to break down the Saints.

St Patrick’s Athletic: Jaros; Hickman, Bone, Desmond, Griffin; Lewis, Lennon, Benson (Burns 68); McClelland (Barrett 87), King (Bermingham 87), Nwoko (Melvin-Lambert 68).

Dundalk: Cherrie; Jurkovskis, Dummigan, Boyle, Leahy; Sloggett, Stanton (Murray 63), Patching; Kelly (Ben Amar 78), Duffy, McMillan.

Referee: Graham Kelly.

CONNECT WITH US TODAY