Superb Dayle Rooney strike sees Drogs sink nine-man St Pat's

Drogheda United stunned title chasing St Pat's with a hugely impressive 2-1 victory over the nine-man hosts in a fiercely contested encounter.

Despite being second best for large periods, the visitors showed incredible grit and determination to earn a massive three points with big implications at either end of the table, as Warren Davis and a stunner from Dayle Rooney - either side of Chris Forresters equaliser - proved enough to take all three points back up the M1.

Having catapulted themselves into the title race with an impressive 3-1 win over Dundalk on Friday night, th Saints knew a victory over another strong Wee County outfit would see them leapfrog Derry City into second, just three points behind leaders Shamrock Rovers.

But they were undone by one of the finest goals the league has seen.

The high-flying hosts started brightly and needed just five minutes to create the first clear cut opportunity. Sam Curtis burst down the right wing, before cutting inside and clipping an inviting cross to the back post towards Mark Doyle. The left winger did everything right to get in front of his marker but couldn't get enough purchase on his header.

Despite the dominant opening, the Saints fell behind a couple of minutes later when

Dean Lyness failed to deal with a fairly heavy back pass from skipper Joe Redmond, allowing 18-year-old Warren Davis the time to chase down the home stopper and block the attempted clearance into the net for his first league goal of his fledgling career.

Buoyed by this opener the visitors really should have doubled their lead moments later. Having won the ball back high up through good pressure from Adam Foley, the goal scorer Davis was then teed up on the edge of the area, completely unmarked, but opted