Defending champions start with a win
Dundalk began the defence of their SSE Airtricity League Premier Division title with a 3-1 win at Bray Wanderers on Saturday evening.
In manager Stephen Kenny's 100th league game in charge of the Lilywhites, his team picked up from where they left off last season, and the outcome never looked in any doubt once they established a two goal lead inside 27 minutes, courtesy of former St Patrick's Athletic striker Ciaran Kilduff.
The opener arrived in the 5th minute, when Ronan Finn fed Mountney wide on the right, and when his cross found Kilduff unmarked in the box, the striker had time and space to beat Peter Cherrie in the Seagulls goal.
Bray's Sean Harding did little to help his side's cause with a short pass back that Kilduff pounced on to fire in a second goal, but within a minute Bray had hit back with a goal of their own, although there was a touch of good fortune attached as Dean Kelly's long-range free-kick took a big deflection off Andy Boyle and looped over the despairing Gary Rogers in the and into the net.
Dundalk continued to dominate the second-half, but had to wait until nine minutes from time for a third goal to put the game beyond reach, when Ronan Finn's low shot from the edge of the area rounded off a good performance and a satisfactory night for the Lilywhites.
Maguire the star for City
Sean Maguire continued his fine start to the season with both goals for Cork City in their televised 2-0 win over Bohemians at Turners Cross.
After scoring the second goal in the Leesiders' win over Dundalk in the Presidents Cup curtain raiser, Maguire marked his league debt for John Caulfield's side with two well taken efforts on a blustery evening in Cork, which were described by his manager afterwards as "goals out of nothing, real poacher’s goals".
A poor first-half delivered little to enthuse another big home crowd, but Maguire lit the touch paper to ignite a home win with the opener on 53 minutes, getting on the end of an Eoghan O'Connell cross to beat Bohs' keeper Dean Delany at his near post.
Ten minutes later, Maguire added a second with a close range finish from a tight angle to wrap up a satisfactory opening day win for a City side with five players making their competitive debuts.
Hoops win the battle of the Rovers
Plenty of talking points emerged from a fiesty encounter at the Showgrounds, with Shamrock Rovers emerging with a 2-0 win over a new-look Sligo Rovers side that finished with nine men in new manager Dave Robertson's first game in charge.
There was an air of the unknown about the home side, with nine debutants involved in the starting line-up, and it was Pat Fenlon's Hoops who took control after the game turned in their favour just before half time.
Shortly after a spectacular Brandon Miele free-kick from 30 yards beat new Sligo goalkeeper Micheal Schlingermann to give Shamrock Rovers the lead, the Bit o' Red were reduced to ten men when Kieran Sadlier was red carded for a challenge on Killian Brennan.
Although they enjoyed a spell of pressure early in the second-half, it got worse for Sligo when they were reduced to nine men, when Craig Roddan followed Sadlier to the dressing room after he received a second yellow card.
The Dubliners secured the points in stoppage time when former Sligo striker Danny North scored at the Showgrounds for the first time as a visiting player, beating Schlingermann with a cool finish.
Galway shock Pats
St Patrick's Athletic made a disappointing start to their league campaign with a 3-1 home defeat at the hands of Galway United at Richmond Park.
In a game watched by President Michael D. Higgins that was goalless in the first-half, Christy Fagan put Pats ahead with a header just after the interval.
But Vinny Faherty levelled just before the hour for Galway and John Sullivan and Enda Curran struck for the Tribesmen with two further goals in the last seven minutes, to clinch what was probably the surprise result of the weekend.
Aside of the result, the main talking point after the game was a save from Galway United goalkeeper Conor Winn, which has set a standard for others to beat in the awards for "Save of the Season".
Winn's tremendous reflex stop came at a crucial time, with the game tied at 1-1 and only 12 minutes remaining.
As a left wing cross was swung into the box, Christy Fagan was just yards from goal when he got his foot to the ball, but although Winn was moving to his left he managed to adjust quickly, reach back to his right and claw the ball away.
Winning start for Harps
Finn Harps celebrated their return to the top flight for the first time since 2008 with a 2-1 win over Derry City in the derby clash at Ballybofey.
In the run up to the game, Harps manager Ollie Horgan said that if his side managed to stay up this season, it would be an even bigger achievement than the success of last season, but a gritty performance from his charges at Finn Park helped them mark their return to the Premier Division in style with a hard fought win.
The deadlock was broken on the stroke of half-time when substitute Tony McNamee whipped a free kick into the box and Dave Scully finished well with a firm header past Ger Doherty in the City goal.
In the second-half Derry threatened on occasions but Harps defended resolutely, and after soaking up pressure they added a second goal 15 minutes from time, when former Derry player Ryan Curran broke through to score with a cool finish.
One crumb of comfort for Derry was that fans' favourite Rory Patterson netted the Candystripes goal in the last minute, on his return to the club for a third spell at the Brandywell.
Results:
Premier Division: Bray Wanderers 1 Dundalk 3, Cork City 2 Bohemians 0, Finn Harps 2 Derry City 1, Sligo Rovers 0 Shamrock Rovers 2, St. Patrick's Athletic 1 Galway United 3, Wexford Youths 0 Longford Town 2
First Division: Cabinteely 2 Athlone Town 1, Drogheda United 2 Waterford United 1, Limerick 4 UCD 1, Shelbourne 0 Cobh Ramblers 1
