Stephen Kenny's St Patrick's Athletic come from behind to beat Dundalk despite son Eoin scoring

Stephen Kenny's young wonder Mason Melia proved the match winner as he came off the bench to earn just a second away win of the season for St Patrick’s Athletic against Dundalk at Oriel Park after his own teenage talent had threatened an upset.

It had briefly looked like the former Republic of Ireland manager’s son Eoin was going to spoil his father's first managerial return to Oriel Park since departing the Lilywhites for the international setup almost six years ago.

The 18-year-old had put Jon Daly’s side ahead inside the opening two minutes only for the Inchicore man to fight their way back in the second half to win away from Richmond Park for the first time since the opening day victory against Galway United in Eamonn Deacy Park back in February.

Tom Grivosti equalised 10 minutes into the second half with an acrobatic effort before 16-year-old Melia, who could have been away with the Republic of Ireland Under-19s, came off the bench to bundle home the winner 13 minutes later to further boost his side’s hopes of getting back into the race for Europe.

While the defeat ensured Dundalk remained at the foot of the table, the Louth side have bigger concerns on the horizon amid reports that owner Brian Ainscough is lookingt to offload the club.

To their credit, the players didn’t let that impact them and they got off to a dream start when they hit the front after just 79 seconds.

Dan Pike’s long throw was helped on by Hayden Cann with Eoin Kenny pouncing with a stooping header from close range to nod past Joseph Anang.

While Daryl Horgan fired just over monents later, it was St Pat's who had the bulk of the chances to level in the period afterwards with Felix Goddard flirting with disaster on a number of occasions.

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