St Patrick’s Athletic goalkeeper Brendan Clarke took to Twitter in defence of claims that his side lacked leadership, after he stepped up to take a penalty in their 2-1 win over Sligo Rovers at the Showgrounds on Saturday night.
With the score tied at 1-1 just before the hour mark St Pats were awarded a penalty after Simon Madden was upended in the box by Regan Donelon. Regular penalty-taker Conan Byrne was on the bench. Clarke, the designated penalty taker, even though strikers Jake Keegan (who had scored the opener) and Achille Campion were on the pitch, calmly slotted the ball home as the visitors took home the three points.
St Pat's keeper Brendan Clarke strode up from his own goal to slot home the winner against Sligo Rovers #RTEsoccer pic.twitter.com/VUpVjB9zTj
— Soccer Republic (@SoccRepublic) September 17, 2018
Recently, in the FAI Cup game away to Derry City, Ian Turner missed a last minute penalty to take the game into extra-time. Following that game Turner received lots of online abuse, something Byrne brought up on the GreatestLeagueInTheWorld podcast, a show he co-hosts alongside RTE broadcaster Con Murphy.
Since Saturday’s game many League of Ireland fans, including some St Pats supporters, have criticised what they perceive to be a lack of leaders in the team, something that Clarke was keen to dismiss.
Clarke said in his series of tweets;
“Lack of leaders? g’way to f#%k and watch the whole game back. You don’t go to Sligo and win without leaders all over the park. Have a look at the amount of corners we had to defend in the first half. Have a look at Mick Leahy’s 2 defensive headers from late set pieces.”
“Have a look at the blocks and tackles Ryan Brennan made throughout the game, which he played dying sick and probably should’ve stayed in bed. That’s just to name 2 of everyone in the squad who I could go through. Have a look at how professionally we saw the game out.
‘Leadership’ isn’t about a poxy peno. It’s about doing whatever ye can to help your team find a way to win. Everyone did that Saturday. End of discussion.”