Alex Nolan gives Stephen Kenny his first league win as Saints supremo

Five and a half years on from the last meeting of these great rivals, the final scoreline was the same.

On that occasion, it was a meeting of the top two teams in the country, an FAI Cup final success for Kenny’s Dundalk over Caulfield’s Cork City.

There was no disputing that the better team prevailed.

It would be a surprise if these teams were battling for honours at the end of this season, although it’s a credit to Galway that they have emerged as candidates for Europe on their return to this level.

In truth, there were spells of this game where they looked to be a more assured team than a Saints side still finding their way under their new boss.

Caulfield could reasonably argue that better finishing might have yielded three points for his team.

When it came to the crunch, though, it was Saints sub Alex Nolan that showed the composure to get the job done and give Kenny a taste of prevailing by the finest margins that eluded him in his former post.

It was a struggle for the Saints initially. Galway United kicked off with the confidence of a team that enjoyed a nine-game unbeaten run.

They are sometimes depicted as a long-ball side but that wouldn’t be a fair description of their strength in the opening stages.

Instead, it was a full-court press from a team that is physically fit, putting a lot of pressure on Saints engine-room operators Jamie Lennon and Chris Forrester in their own half.

Granted, they didn’t create a huge amount of opportunities as a consequence – right full Jeannot Esua could only win corners from some promising crossing opportunities – but this was a demanding physical test for a Pat’s side whose fitness has come under scrutiny.

Stephen Kenny has expressed the view that certain individuals who didn’t feature much earlier in the season are behind where they should be.

Romal Palmer is an example; the Englishman had bright spells but wasn’t able to last the duration.

Still, Pat’s bounced back to take the lead before the interval. United had delivered an early signal of intent by sending their defenders forward for a throw-in.

While they then went short to try and deceive their hosts, it highlighted their belief that they could do damage in the air. Both of their goals against Dundalk last week came via that route.

Therefore, Caulfield will be disappointed that his team conceded to a routine dead ball with the Saints getting the better of three duels with Conor Keeley and then Cian Kavanagh winning headers that allowed Mason Melia to rise and use his body to get the ball over the line. The 16-year-old knows how to look after himself.

He was sprightly in the aftermath in what was the best spell of the match for Kenny’s side. But United grew in confidence around the hour mark, sensing that opportunities were going to come their way if they kept knocking on the door.

Sure enough, after Maurice Nugent failed to capitalise on a promising opportunity in the area, the Tribesmen turned to the imposing Patrick Hickey as an alternative.

His impact was instantaneous, rising to send an Al-Amin Kazeem cross goalwards but the final touch came off his fellow sub Francely Lomboto.

There was no sense that the away side were happy with that and they continued to knock on the door for a winner with centre half Rob Slevin squandering a chance. Although Danny Rogers made himself big when it mattered too.

There was a passage where the home box was bombarded from all angles.

But Kenny had turned to his bench for inspiration and it was Kian Leavy that provided it, jumping to his feet when a penalty shout was waved away and breezing past a statuesque Lomboto before his deflected cross was converted by Nolan.

Richmond Park erupted, but it quickly became a rearguard effort with Hickey’s header smashing against the woodwork from the restart.

Back-to-back injury time concessions meant there was a mental block to overcome in seeing it out. Kenny’s men succeeded in doing so, and the Richmond roar that greeted the final whistle emphasised the significance.

St Patrick’s Athletic: Rogers, McLaughlin, Redmond, Keeley, Turner; Lennon, Forrester; Melia, Palmer (Leavy 68), B Kavanagh (Mulraney 72); C Kavanagh (Nolan 81)

Galway United: Clarke, Esua, Slevin, Brouder, Kazeem (O’Keefe 86); McCormack, Nugent (Hickey 65); O’Sullivan, Hurley (Buckley 65), McCarthy (Lomboto 60); Walsh (Aouachria 86)

Ref: Gavin Colfer