SSE Airtricity Premier Division: Dundalk 0 St Patrick’s Athletic 0
Stephen O’Donnell might be gone but the scoring problems remain for Dundalk as their wait for a first win of the season continued against St Patrick’s Athletic at Oriel Park.
The Lilywhites were playing their first match since the sacking of their head coach on Monday but their lack of a cutting edge remains an issue as this latest blank means they have now gone five home matches in-a-row without scoring for the first time in their history.
Jon Daly’s side came into the game on the back of good wins against Sligo Rovers and Shamrock Rovers that had lifted them to third in the table but they also struggled to find their shooting boots with Conor Keeley and Mason Melia squandering their best chances.
Dundalk, who had interim bosses Liam Burns and Brian Gartland on the sideline, had a flurry of opportunities early in the second half but only forced one fairly routine save from Danny Rogers over the 90 minutes.
His opposite number George Shelvey was left breathing a sigh of relief on 11 minutes when he was caught in possession by Melia, who charged down his attempted clearance only for the ball to drift wide before he could finish.
Daryl Horgan and Archie Davies had efforts off target for the home side after that but the first shot on target didn’t arrive until the 28th minute when Shelvey turned Chris Forrester’s effort from the edge of the box around the post.
The visitors then should have been in front eight minutes later when Brandon Kavanagh’s corner picked out the inrushing Conor Keeley but he couldn’t find the target from 10 yards out.
The home side applied plenty of pressure at the start of the second half but a long range Robbie Benson effort that
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