St Patrick's Athletic climbed back to the top of the Premier Division table after fighting their way back from a goal down at Richmond Park to pick up a crucial point.

 

Sporting, who were unlucky to bow out of the Europa League earlier in the week, started brightly with Alan Kirby blasting over before Ronan Finn tried his luck.

 

Then Eamon Zayed, top scorer for the Ravens this season, brought the best out of Saints keeper Gary Rogers on 26 minutes as Liam Buckley's side stormed forward at every opportunity.

 

But St Pat's showed that they can be an attacking tour de force too with Derek Doyle's effort having to be hooked clear off the line by the alert Lorcan Fitzgerald, while keeper Brendan Clarke did well to steal the ball ahead of Dave Mulcahy at a corner.

 

The home team tried to step things up by introducing both Brian Cash and Danny North after the restart with the latter attempting a cheeky overhead kick that went just wide.

 

Sporting then stunned the Richmond faithful when they took the lead on 66 minutes. Finn let rip with a shot and it hit Kirby before smashing Rogers in the face and Conan Byrne sweeped in to convert the rebound.

 

That was a cruel goal for St Pat's to concede, but they didn't give up fighting to get a goal of their own and their persistence paid off on 88 minutes when Mulcahy rose highest to head in Stuart Byrne's cross.

 

St Patrick's Athletic: Rogers; Pender, Kenna, Mulcahy, Lynch; McAllister, S Byrne, O'Connor, Doyle (Cash HT); Guy, P Byrne (North HT). 

 

Sporting Fingal: Clarke; O'Brien, Williams, Gannon, Fitzgerald; Finn, C Byrne (Cahill 87), Kirby (Dawson 90), McFaul; Crowe (O'Neill 63), Zayed.

 

Referee: A Buttimer (Cork).