St Pat's

A raucous crowd of 4789 watched their team's season opener at Richmond Park.

Sam Curtis is evolving into the sort of fullback that is destined to be signed by an English club before the year ends. But Clancy had other tricks up his sleeve with Jake Mulraney, back from a stint at Orlando City, coming off the bench on the hour. The full house was up in arms when Chris Forrester became the second name cautioned, following Clancy, despite a spate of bookable fouls by the visitors. On the evidence of the opening night, O’Doherty’s desire to end a 26 year wait will not weigh too heavily upon Derry’s deep squad. By the death, Derry were clinging to the point. Derry City looked the better team until St Pat’s turned the contest into a scrap.

Derry City opened their Premier Division account for 2023 with a 1-1 draw in Dublin against St. Patrick's Athletic. Jordan McEneff put Derry ahead just past ...

Elsewhere in the Irish top flight, Bohemians were the only side to take three points on the opening night of the season. Pat Hoban had a first-half penalty saved as Dundalk were held to a 1-1 draw by UCD. It looked like the Candystrips were set for the full set of points only for Pat’s to score on the 89th minute through Joe Redmond to level the tie.

Tim Clancy had bemoaned St Pat's head-to-head record with Derry City in the build-up to this eagerly awaited opening night clash. The Candystripes were the ...

Little was falling their way but, to their credit, they had Derry by the scruff of the neck and refused to bend, with Redmond leading the way for a scrambled point late on. St Pat’s were wise to the antics and Clancy shuffled over to the Derry huddle in the hope of earwigging, only for the fourth official to point the way back to the bench. And Derry were almost rewarded for the tweak when O’Neill played in Ryan Graydon who only had David Odumosu to beat, but the goalkeeper made a brilliant one-handed save to thwart him close in. Rather, the break in play allowed Derry boss Higgins to usher his team towards the bench for a tactical reshuffle. Derry had used their streetsmarts to manage the second-half to their liking, with St Pat’s operating at arm’s length until that late, late lapse in concentration. The hosts were second best for most of the night, but were finishing with a flourish as Derry tried to protect Jordan McEneff’s early opener in those late stages.

Derry City are held to a 1-1 draw in their League of Ireland opener with St. Patrick's Athletic at Richmond Park.

After a succession of corners, Redmond was on hand to equalise, bundling the ball over the line from close range. A final touch off Joe Redmond is thought to have brought the sides level as both teams had to settle for a point in the first game of the season. But a succession of Pat's corners led to the equaliser in the closing minutes in Inchicore.