Deep down, St Pat’s fans will appreciate that Stephen O’Donnell put their club back on the map.
But they are certainly past the stage of thanking him for it, and the explosive close season antics saw to that.
But on his return to Inchicore, he left the happier manager after denying his old club a deserved win.
Dundalk goalkeeper Nathan Shepperd pulled off two remarkable saves late on to deny Eoin Doyle.
The wounds haven’t fully healed around these parts but they say time will help with that.
And sure enough, the sting wasn’t as severe as it might have been for O’Donnell.
Four months after the act, the welcome dished out to the FAI Cup winning boss wasn’t exactly Galatasaray ‘Welcome to Hell’ levels. Nowhere near it, in fact.
When Dundalk arrived at the ground at 6.05pm, some St Pat’s fans came out of the neighbouring pub to taunt O’Donnell as he stepped off the team bus.
Inside the stadium, as the teams came out of the tunnel, a handful of banners were unfurled, colourfully referencing St Patrick driving away the snakes.
Another, of Homer Simpson clubbing a snake, signalled that ‘Whacking Day’ had arrived in Inchicore.
Dundalk erred on the side of caution by beefing up protection around the returning boss, not that the security detail was called into action before or after the game.
On the final whistle, O’Donnell even embraced some of his former St Pat’s players - but not all of the Saints staff.
Apart from the handful of barbs fired his way, it was all pretty tame stuff for the man who made this club relevant again.
For the most part, the fans were focused on their title-chasing team who couldn’t afford to be blindsided by O’Donnell’s return.
St Pat’s made a blistering start and pinned Dundalk deep in their half for the opening 20 minutes with Adam Murphy pulling the strings in midfield on his 17th birthday.
The teenager was catapulted into the mix after talisman Chris Forrester was ruled out, but more than he;d his own until his night was prematurely ended.
He was central to the Saints two best chances of that opening half, first teeing up Ronan Coughlan with a defence-splitting ball which the striker fired wide.
And he then clipped a ball to Billy King who rounded Shepperd only to run out of road when trying to pull the back to Doyle in space.
But Murphy’s night was cut short in the 21st minute when he pulled his hamstring. He has had ongoing issues with them and cut a distraught figure leaving the pitch.
And it was no coincidence that Dundalk started to gain a foothold in the game - and in midfield in particular - once the former Belvedere youth was gone.
Robbie Benson - who followed O’Donnell out the Richmond Park door and back up the M1 - was always a threat.
He wasn’t far away with the final act of a well-rehearsed corner kick routine and then headed over from a Darragh Leahy ball.
Dundalk almost caught St Pat’s napping moments later when Leahy’s big switch to Steven Bradley sounded the panic alarm.
But although Tom Grivosti and Anto Breslin were scrambling to cover, the latter weighed in with a vital toe poke to thwart the on-loan Hibs winger.
And Benson threatened again on the stroke of half-time, only for James Abankwah’s brilliant intervention to halt a flowing move down the right involving Pat Hoban.
But the hosts upped the ante again after the break only to find Shepperd in inspired form - pulling off two remarkable saves to deny Eoin Doyle.
First, he acrobatically tipped Doyle’s eight-yard header from Darragh Burns’ cross over the crossbar.
And he repeated the trick at point-blank range, as the striker latched onto another Burns ball.
Saints were comfortably the more dominant side by that late stage, but just couldn’t land the win that really would have rubbed O’Donnell’s nose in it.
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