St Patrick's Athletic overcome nine-man Longford

A late Chris Forrester penalty was needed to book St Patrick's Athletic's passage through to the second round of the Sports Direct FAI Cup.

But the side sitting second in the Premier Division table were pushed all the way by First Division Longford Town, who finished with nine men at Bishopsgate.

Despite languishing third from bottom in the second tier, Longford have hit a run of form, taking seven points from their last three league games.

And Stephen Henderson’s midlanders started brightly, spurning a real chance on four minutes when St Pat's goalkeeper Dean Lyness had to be sharply off his line to save at the feet of Cristian Magerusan.

Longford goalkeeper Jack Brady bettered that with the save of the first half on 26 minutes, brilliantly turning a Mark Doyle shot around a post.

The real action was reserved for the second half ,with St Pat's breaking the deadlock on 63 minutes.

The overworked Brady initially did well to push away an angled drive from Conor Carty. The Saints striker put the ball back low across the area for 18-year-old Adam Murphy to stab home for his second goal in a week.

Longford didn’t wilt, though, and Lyness had to make a fine save to deny Magerason an equaliser before the home side did level on 77 minutes in a frantic finish to the game.

Dylan Hand’s long throw was cleared to the edge of the area, where substitute Mohammed Boudiaf found the net through a forest of legs.

Having got themselves back into the game, Longford conceded a penalty on 80 minutes when Aaron Walsh tripped substitute Tommy Lonergan.

Skipper Forrester drilled the spot-kick to the bottom corner despite Brady diving the right way.

Longford were then reduced to 10 men within two minutes when defender Hand was harshly sent off for a