St. Patrick's Athletic manager Harry Kenny had mixed feelings after Simon Madden's last-gasp equaliser secured a 1-1 draw for his team against Cork City at Richmond Park on Friday night. Saints were dominant throughout the first half but their hard
St. Patrick's Athletic manager Harry Kenny had mixed feelings after Simon Madden's last-gasp equaliser secured a 1-1 draw for his team against Cork City at Richmond Park on Friday night. Saints were dominant throughout the first half but their hard work was undone when Karl Sheppard gave Cork the lead in the 54th minute. Despite Madden's rescue act with virtually the last kick of the game, Kenny wasn't impressed with his side's drop in standards in the second half. "I'm really relieved but hugely disappointed with our second half performance," Kenny said after the game. "In the first half, I thought we played quite well and created a few chances but Cork had their spell in the second half and we didn't retain the ball as well as we did in the first. But obviously we're delighted to get out with a point." Kenny was glad that his side didn't give up even when a point looked a lost cause, adding: "You never give up hope, you play to the whistle every time and that's what we did tonight. We were caught with a sucker punch last week (against Dundalk) so it was nice to reverse the situation. That's twice we've done that to Cork, we got a really late equaliser down there and again tonight." Young forward Jake Walker came on for the injured Gary Shaw in the first half and had a number of chances to find the net. Despite failing to do so, Kenny was pleased with the youngster's endevour. "I thought Jake did very well. He had a few headers and he normally scores them, he's decent in the air. He's good around the goal and he's doing really well with the under-19s. He's had a few sub appearances for us and I'm delighted with the way he's going." With three changes to the starting XI that lost to Dundalk last week, Kenny was philosophical about what turned out to be a hard-earned draw, which prevented Cork from moving to within one point of Saints in the table. "It wasn't to be we had a lot of changes. I know I'm disappointed with the second half display but over the 90 minutes I thought a draw was a fair result." Next up for Kenny and his team, a trip to Sligo Rovers next Saturday.
