Tim Clancy wants St Pat’s to take a leaf out of their rivals playbook by learning the dark arts.
The Saints scored a last gasp Joe Redmond equaliser to rescue a point at home to Derry City on Friday night.
The FAI Cup holders were on track for three points and looked to be seeing out the game until losing their concentration at the death.
They went in front through Jordan McEneff but Clancy was unhappy that his team didn’t foul the Candystripes ace in the build-up.
Shortly before that first-half goal, Derry boss Ruaidhri Higgins forced a tactical reshuffle when play was stopped after Brian Maher went down for treatment.
Few in the ground believed the goalkeeper was actually injured but the break allowed Higgins gather his players to hammer home his message and Derry scored soon after.
Saints boss Clancy said: “Listen, that's experience. Shels did it in the cup final. The keeper can’t go off when he goes down injured and teams are going to use that.
“You can teach (streetsmarts) and the more experience you have and you gain, there’s nothing wrong with it. It’s just being clever.
“But I think officials can be a little bit more proactive in trying to stop that.
“If a player goes down, maybe tell the rest of the team they cannot go to the sideline to refuel or get instructions.
“Their goal came from a mistake we spoke about. They’re a very cynical team and they punish you.
“They make fouls when they need to make fouls and it’s something we could have done, maybe just take the player down in the middle of the pitch.”
New St Pat’s signing Jake Mulraney made a good impact off the bench midway through the second-half.
And Clancy feels the former Hearts and Orlando City wide attacking player will be a great asset once he’s up to speed.
“Jake is probably a few weeks behind in terms of fitness, he hadn’t done anything from October to the third week in January.
“That 35 minutes he got on Friday will certainly help going forward.”
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