Dolmen Celtic 3

St Patrick’s Boys 2

Dolmen had to withstand a second half rally from St Pat’s before claiming the win to move into the middle of the table while Pat’s slip to second from bottom.

With both teams moving the ball well, it was surprising that it took half an hour for the opening goal to arrive, Celtic’s Joe Doran driving the ball into the roof of the net for 1-0. Five minutes before the break it was 2-0 to the hosts, Doran fouled in the penalty area and Colin Nolan duly converting from 12 yards as Dolmen went into half time comfortably ahead.

Things got better for Celtic ten minutes after the restart, Doran latching onto a through ball before finding the net for 3-0. But Pat’s weren’t about to roll over and just after the hour substitute Padraic Quinlan reduced the arrears. Ten minutes later it was really game on when Mazin Almujarfi capitalised on some poor defending in the Dolmen area to net St Pat’s second. The visitors piled men forward as they went in search of a point but some resolute defending from Celtic saw them hang on for the win thanks largely to the efforts of Joe Doran, Paul Core and Colin Nolan.

St Pat’s best included Chris Gaul, Conor Clack and Liam Byrne.