Kenny: We want to get up the league table

Stephen Kenny said he was eager for his team to climb up the table after St Pat’s secured the biggest result of his stint so far, with a dramatic 2-1 win over champions Shamrock Rovers in Richmond Park this evening.

Still trailing 1-0 with 15 minutes remaining – Johnny Kenny having given the visitors the lead shortly after the half hour mark – Pat’s forced the equaliser on 76 minutes, Mason Melia harrying Lee Steacy into a panicked clearance, which was lashed only as far as Ruairí Keating on the edge of the box.

The striker composed himself and bent a curling shot into the far corner. And, while Pat’s have been sickened by late goals twice already in Kenny’s short reign, at home to Shels and away to Bohs, tonight it was they who tasted injury-time euphoria, Brandon Kavanagh forcing home the winner in front of the stunned away supporters.

“I feel the players deserved that overall. It’s been a really intense period, six games in three weeks,” Kenny told RTÉ Sport after the game.

“We’ve left some points behind us for sure in my first couple of weeks. We came out the right side of a tight game tonight.

“It was a very good game of football, I felt.

“We’d a definite penalty, an absolute cast iron penalty in the first couple of minutes. It can’t get any more blatant than that. Terrific cross from Jake Mulrangey and Mason has done brilliantly and the goalkeeper has collided with him but it’s not given.

“We concede a goal. That’s Shamrock Rovers quality, with Neil Farrugia down the right, a terrific player.

“Second half, we raised our game, I felt. There was a high level of energy and commitment. We forced the equaliser.

“We’d a very contentious offside as well (before that). Ruairí Keating’s one was a very, very tight decision. My instinct was it wasn’t offside, I can’t be certain. But these things can be marginal calls. The fact that he dusted himself down and got the equaliser showed good fortitude.”

On his arrival at the club, the former Republic of Ireland manager famously signed a five-year contract, an unprecedented move in the context of League of Ireland football.

The manager bristled somewhat at the suggestion that the sluggish start to his reign might have left him feeling in any way under pressure.

“No, no. No I didn’t. Why? Do you think I was…?

“We want to get up the right end of the table. You don’t want to be at the wrong at end of the table.

“It’s very competitive. I think The two promoted teams have obviously been excellent this year, Galway and Waterford.

“That hasn’t always been the case. Sometimes promoted teams struggle. Galway and Waterford doing so well has made it competitive for all ten teams. That’s for sure.”