Sligo Rovers were beaten in controversial circumstances at Richmond Park as the ten man Bit O’Red were beaten by St Patrick’s Athletic. 

Paddy McClean was sent off by referee Damien MacGraith just before half-time, a decision which has since been overturned by an independent appeals committee. 

While both MacGraith and his assistants David Connolly and Niall McLoughlin each failed to spot a clear hand-ball from Saints’ winger Jake Mulreany in the lead up to the hosts’ first goal. A brace from Mason Melia added to the scoreline. 

The first contentious moment arrived three minutes from the interval when McClean collided with Melia on the teen’s way to goal. Referee MacGraith brandishing a now successfully appealed red card to McClean despite Seb Quirk clearly being the covering defender. 

The erroneous decision heavily influenced the course of the game and the officials were again in the midst of the conversation on 49 minutes when Mulreany blatantly used his arm to alter the trajectory of Chris Forrester’s through ball before knocking it into an empty net. 

Melia made it two on 56, while he had his second and Pat’s third five minutes later. 

St Patrick’s Athletic: Joseph Anang; Axel Sjoberg, Joe Redmond, Luke Turner, Jay McClelland; Jamie Lennon (Barry Baggley h-t), Chris Forrester (Darren Robinson 79); Jake Mulraney (Kian Leavy 79), Brandon Kavanagh, Simon Power (Jordan Garrick 71); Mason Melia (Conor Carty 71).

Sligo Rovers: Sam Sargeant; Sebastian Quirk, Ollie Denham, Paddy McClean, Sean Stewart; Ciaron Harkin (Matt Wolfe 65), James McManus; Will Fitzgerald; Owen Elding (Ronan Manning 80), Ryan O’Kane; Wilson Waweru (Cian Kavanagh h-t).

Referee: Damien MacGraith.