Tenacious 10-man Dundalk snatch a draw against St Patrick's Athletic

Daniel Kelly came back to haunt St Patrick's Athletic once again as his goal six minutes from time earned 10-man Dundalk a share of the spoils at Oriel Park.

It looked as though Jon Daly’s side were on course for victory and a move up to second in the table when Conor Carty put them ahead on 33 minutes and the home side were reduced to 10 men 10 minutes into the second half following two yellow cards in as many minutes for Rayhann Tulloch.

However, a combination of top-class goalkeeping from Nathan Shepperd and great spirit from Stephen O’Donnell’s side saw them battle back, with Kelly scoring his sixth career goal against St Pat’s and his fourth in as many matches.

While the Louth men will be happy with the point, Pat’s will feel this was two points dropped in their battle to secure European football again next season.

There was little to report in the early stages, with the first shot of note only arriving in the 18th minute but unfortunately for Dundalk, Patrick Hoban’s header from Archie Davies’ free-kick was tame and easy for Dean Lyness to deal with.

St Pat’s didn’t register an attempt until five minutes later but Jamie Lennon couldn’t keep his shot from the edge of the box down.

The visitors would take the lead on 33 minutes though, with their first shot on target. Sam Curtis’s free-kick saw Jake Mulraney get in behind Robbie McCourt on the right. He then slipped the ball into Adam Murphy, who squared for Carty to slot in his fourth goal of the season.

Dundalk were unlucky not to level matters three minutes before the break when Lyness made a brilliant stop to keep out Connor Malley’s header following a superb cross from the right by Davies.

St Pat’s went close to doubling their lead within a minute of the restart as