Derry City have suffered a penalty shootout defeat for the second time in the space of four days, after they crashed out of the FAI Cup on Sunday.
The cup holders beaten 4-3 on spot kicks by 2021 winners St. Patrick's Athletic, just three days after they lost 6-5 to FC Tobol in their Europa Conference League qualifier.
The defeats mean that the Candystripes are now out of both competitions, and only have the League Of Ireland Premier Division title race to concentrate on until the end of the season.
Like on Thursday night, Derry had chances during normal and extra time on Sunday that could have seen them avoid a shootout.
Most notably, Will Patching smashed the post from a free kick, with just under 10 minutes of normal time to play at the Ryan McBride Brandywell Stadium.
So close!
Will Patching smashes the post with a late free kick 😲
Extra time looms unless a winner is found!#FAICUP | #DERPAT pic.twitter.com/pOrPXRMO8a— FAIreland (@FAIreland) August 20, 2023
Derry City suffer another penalty shootout defeat
During the shootout, it looked like Ruadhri Higgins' side were going to banish the ghosts of Thursday night at Tallaght Stadium, when Jake Mulraney fired his penalty wide and Danny Mullen converted to make it 3-2 to the hosts after three spot kicks each.
However, Kian Leavy and Mason Melia scored the last two for the Saints, while Michael Duffy and Mark Connolly failed to convert for Derry.
On Thursday night, a Patching penalty secured a 1-0 second leg victory over Tobol, and the 1-1 aggregate scoreline sent the game to penalties.
Ben Doherty and goalkeeper Brian Maher were the ones who missed for Derry on that occasion, with the Kazakh side progressing in sudden death.
📹 | The moment that sealed St. Patrick's Athletic's passage to the quarter-final of the Sports Direct Men's FAI Cup 👇#FAICup | #DERPAT pic.twitter.com/A76Jfm8rkR
— FAIreland (@FAIreland) August 20, 2023
Penalty shootout win take St. Pat's through
Elsewhere in the FAI Cup on Sunday, Wexford beat St. Patrick's CYFC 1-0 thanks to a first-half Darragh Levingston strike.
Bohemians, Drogheda United, Dundalk and Finn Harps are also already in the hat for the last eight, with Monday night's rearranged second round ties consisting of Cork City v Waterford and UCD v Galway United.
The draw for the FAI Cup quarter-final will take place at 12.30pm on Tuesday and will be streamed live on the FAI's YouTube channel.
