AIDAN KEENA made it a double weekend double as he scored twice from the spot to earn St Pat’s a second win in four days.
Keena followed up his two goals in the 4-3 win over Sligo Rovers on Friday night with two penalties to see off ten-man Derry City in front of 4,476 at Richmond Park.
It was a well-earned for the Saints in the circumstances as injuries and suspensions meant they were forced to play with a makeshift midfield.
Chris Forrester is only back from illness and was the only recognised midfielder alongside winger Jason McClelland.
Ahead of them, Mason Melia made his first start of the season after missing much of pre-season with a back problem.
But while they gave up a lot more possession and territory than would normally be the case for a Stephen Kenny team, they were clinical on the counter attack.
It took just 16 minutes to fashion the first goal and Tottenham Hotspur-bound Melia was heavily involved.
He won the penalty when pushed over by Ben Doherty as he latched onto a Keena pass in the area after a swift counter attack.
Keena, who had three goals in his previous two games, grabbed the ball and made no mistake with a powerful shot just inside Brian Maher’s right-hand post.
His second penalty on 66 minutes was a carbon copy as he found the same corner from 12-yards after he had been tripped by Adam O’Reilly on yet another counter attack.
And it was a game that the Saints could have won by more.
Keena came close on 24 minutes an another quick counter attack only for Maher to palm away his piledriver from 20-yards.
But while the Saints looked good when they could break, it was the visitors doing most of the running as they picked holes in the home side’s midfield.
Tiarnan Lynch’s men dominated possession throughout the first half as they stretched the St Pat’s backline but not goalkeeper Joe Anang.
Indeed their best moment of the first half came on the counter, when they broke from a St Pat’s corner through Carl Winchester before Michael Duffy’s dangerous cross was cleared.
But their chances of a comeback were severely dented just three minutes into the second half when Winchester was shown a straight red card for a challenge on Melia.
The incident saw both sets of players pushing and shoving though Winchester, whose foot was not high, felt aggrieved when shown the red card.
St Pat’s did take control after that with McClelland going close from distance and Maher saving from Melia.
But Derry were also losing their discipline.
Kevin Holt was fortunate that referee Gavin Colfer did not seek any punishment when he recklessly took out Keena in the area after the whistle had already gone for an offside on 64 minutes.
But there was no further luck two minutes later when Keena was tripped by O’Reilly after he turned onto a Forrester pass inside the area.
Again, Keena fired low to Maher’s right as he grabbed his second of the game and fifth of the season.
He was substituted to a standing ovation with 12 minutes later by which time Derry City had also taken off all of their attacking front four with Friday’s game with Galway United in mind.
Sun Star Man – Aidan Keena (St Patrick’s Athletic)
St Patrick’s Athletic: Anang 7; Sjoberg 7, Redmond 7, Grivosti 7, Breslin 7; McClelland 7, Forrester 7; Elbouzedi 7 (Kazeem 87, 6), Melia 7 (Carty 87, 6), Mulraney 6 (Power 70, 6); Keena 8 (Kavanagh 78, 6).
Derry City: Maher 6; O’Reilly 6, Connolly 5, Holt 5, Doherty 5; Diallo 5, Winchester 4; McMullan 6 (Todd 55, 6), Whyte 6 (Harkin 55, 6), Duffy 6 (Mullen 73, 6); Hoban 5 (Patton 65, 6).
Referee: G Colfer (Dublin) 5.
