A very tight and tense Dublin derby came alive in the 28^th minute when Gary Twigg controlled a through ball from Stephen Rice and forced his way into the box before Pats Captain Damian Lynch pulled him down and Referee Tomney had the easy decision to point to the spot and show Lynch the red card.

The Scotsman had enough of the previous penalty misses at Tallaght Stadium and he stepped up to fire the ball past Gary Rogers. Up to that point only Sean O’Connor’s shot, that rattled the cross-bar in the 17^th minute, came close to breaking the deadlock although the Hoops enjoyed most of the possession.

On 35 minutes the Hoops almost made it two when Bermingham raided down the left and Baker flicked on his cross for O’Connor to shoot just wide. The Hoops controlled the remainder of the ‘half but failed to increase their lead.

The Saints regrouped at half-time and came out fighting. Within 3 minutes Barry Murphy was called on to make a fine low save when O’Brien's cross was met by Partridge. Quigley then shot wide from Byrnes fine cross on 56 minutes and twp minutes later Ryan Guy crossed but this time O’Brien couldn’t direct his header on goal.

Rovers had a lot of possession but failed to get behind the hard working Pats defence. Some good approach work in the 64^th minute saw Rice’s shot deflected for a corner and Twigg just failed to connect with the resulting kick from O’Connor.

The visitors broke quickly and it took a vital interception from Bermingham to relieve the pressure. Rovers lost Aiden Price to injury and Pat Flynn slotted into his position with Shane Robinson taking up the right-full position.

After 70 minutes the Pats left-full Stevens was sent in on goal and once again Barry Murphy came to the rescue to parry the defenders shot. A deep cross from O’Connor found Cahill at the back post on 75 minutes and his header found Bradley inside the area but his shot on the turn was blocked.

After a fine defensive header from Robinson Bradley released sub Barrett and his cross found Rice but his shot was deflected over the bar. As the game entered the final minutes the visitors continued to get balls into the box but Flynn and Sives got their head to everything to clear the danger.

The large and noisy Tallaght crowd rose to their feet to acclaim the victory as the Ref. blew for full-time after over three minutes of added-on time however the Saints will take comfort from their second-half display.