Danny Mullen comes off the bench to win it for Derry City!

Derry City 2

St. Patrick’s Athletic 1

Danny Mullen came off the bench to score an injury time winner as Derry City came from behind to defeat St. Patrick’s Athletic.

The Scottish striker latched onto a pass from Michael Duffy before drilling the ball left-footed into the top corner to send the Brandywell fans home happy.

It was the striker's fourth goal for the club and undoubtedly his most important yet as City came from behind to win a league game at the Brandywell for the first time since August, 2020. 

Mullen’s winner came after Pat Hoban’s header had levelled the game, following Ruiari Keating’s opener for Pat’s earlier in the half.

After a poor first half form both teams, the second half began disastrously for Derry City as they gifted their opponents a goal within two minutes of the restart. Ben Doherty blindly played a pass back towards his goalkeeper, but he didn’t see Ruairi Keating behind him, and the striker was onto the ball immediately before lashing it high into the net for his first goal for St. Pat’s.

Ruaidhri Higgins’ response was to send on Paul McMullan and play him centrally in place pf Jordan McEneff. The change eventually worked with McMullan at the heart of the move which led to Derry City’s equaliser on 65 minutes. Ronan Boyce’s ball in behind sent the winger scampering into the area and he had two attempts to pick out Hoban before he won a corner. From the set piece, Patching delivered to the back post, where Hiban nodded in from close range for his second goal in two games at the Brandywell.

The game was there for the taking in the closing stages, and Pat’s came so close to nicking it with four minutes remaining when the unmarked Forester shaped to shoot just 10 yards from goal, only to be denied by a last-gasp block from Boyce, who saved his team.

The game looked to be heading for a draw, but four minutes if added time saw Derry nick the winner. Mullen started the move which led to his goal by sending Duffy racing down the wing and into the area, and his return pass found the striker who battered the ball past Pitaluga to seal three points for the home side, who now head to Tallaght on Monday.

Derry City: Maher, Boyce, Connolly, McJannet, Doherty; O'Reilly, Patching, McEneff (McMullan 55’); Kelly (Mullen 82’), Hoban, Duffy (S McEleney 92’).

St Patrick's Athletic: Pitaluga, Keeley, Redmond, Turner; Sjoberg (Mella 92’), Lennon, Forrester, Breslin; Leavy (Bolger 83’), Keating (C Kavanagh 83’), B Kavanagh (McClelland 76’).

Referee: Robert Havey (Dublin).