Stephen O'Donnell's Inchicore return ends in stalemate between St Pat's and Dundalk

Stephen O'Donnell had goalkeeper Nathan Shepperd to thank as Dundalk claimed a point on his return to Richmond Park.

The 36-year-old’s departure from St Patrick’s Athletic in the wake of last November’s FAI Cup win over Bohemians left a sour taste in the mouths of many around Inchicore and the home support let their feelings be known upon his arrival at the ground and at various points throughout the game.

It was O’Donnell who would leave the happier of the two managers though as his side escaped with a share of the spoils that their performance scarcely warranted.

Two incredible saves from Welsh U21 international Shepperd to deny Eoin Doyle proved the difference on the night with the striker even shaking his hand after the second of them in an acknowledgement of the goalkeeper’s brilliance.

The former Brentford player now has five clean sheets in nine matches - a figure it took 30 games for the Louth men to reach last year - and has only conceded two penalties in his last seven outings.

Tim Clancy’s side dominated for large periods and would have been deserving winners with Darragh Burns starring but O’Donnell has made Dundalk hard to beat and they proved it again on his Richmond return.

It was one-way traffic in the early stages with 17-year-old birthday boy Adam Murphy running the show in midfield on his league debut.

Pat's almost took the lead on four minutes when Lewis Macari’s attempted clearance was charged down by Billy King whose cross spun up off Eoin Doyle. It looked comfortable for Shepperd to collect but a miscommunication saw him collide with Darragh Leahy with Darragh Burns pouncing only to be denied at close range by the goalkeeper.

There was another half chance three minutes later when Paul Doyle failed to deal