ELLIS CHAPMAN’S first-half strike gave Sligo Rovers a shot in the arm as they saw off an out-of-sorts St Pat’s at the Showgrounds.
Chapman’s goal from range handed the Bit O’Red their first win in seven games and moves Rovers to within a point of the Saints in the table.
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The hosts led at the interval but the Dubliners fashioned most of the play in front of goal in the first half.
John Daly’s charges should have been ahead on nine minutes when Chris Forrester and Brandon Kavanagh combined to find former Sligo youth Ruairí Keating.
But the striker blazed over from ten yards.
Conor Keeley’s header from a Kavanagh free landed on the roof of the Rovers net six minutes later as Pat’s issued another warning shot.
Jake Mulraney was causing concern down Sligo’s left flank.
But Chapman then fired the hosts in front on 23 minutes when the midfielder struck for his fourth goal of the year.
The former Cheltenham man steadied himself before lashing past Danny Rogers from 25 yards.
Ed McGinty had to bat away an angled effort from Keating early in the second period, as John Russell’s side looked to map a way to their first win over Pat’s since last year’s May Bank Holiday.
On 61 minutes, the Bit O’Red keeper executed a superb reaction save to deny Forrester from a Kavanagh set-piece.
The home support thought they had a penalty on 71 minutes when substitute Rein Smit went to ground following a challenge by Pat’s netminder Rogers.
However, referee David Dunne awarded a free out and booked the Dutch striker for simulation.
Connor Malley’s drive from 30 yards whistled over the Dubliners’ crossbar with 12 minutes to go as Rovers sought to kill the game.
And they had skipper Niall Morahan to thank for a heroic late block on Pat’s sub Mason Melia.
SUN STAR MAN
Niall Morahan (Sligo)
SLIGO ROVERS: McGinty 6; Reynolds 6 (Barlow 68, 7), Wiggett 6, Denham 7, Hutchinson 7; Morahan 8, Chapman 7, Malley 7; Hartmann 6 (Elding 57, 6), Radosavljevic 6 (Waweru 84, 6); Mata 6 (Smit 68, 6).
ST PATRICK’S ATHLETIC: Rogers 6; Freeman 6, Keeley 6, Turner 6, Breslin 6; Lennon 5; Forrester 5, Kavanagh 6 (Palmer 68, 6); Mulraney 5 (Leavy 73, 6), Nolan 5 (Melia 68, 6), Keating 5.
REFEREE: D Dunne (Dublin) 5.
