League Preview: UCD -v- St Patrick's Athletic
Credit:
UCD
The Students return to the Bowl on Friday night following last weeks frustrating nil all draw against fellow Dublin rivals Bohemians who spent large amounts of time down to ten men after the dismissal of Roberto Lopes. Missing from that outing were Ayman Ben Mohamed and Dean Clarke and both remain out with the former expected back sooner than the latter. Tomas Boyle will be a notable absence from the heart of the UCD back line, he is out with a hamstring injury.
Manager Aaron Callaghan is taking the positives from last week, a first clean sheet of the season just reward for outstanding young stopper Conor O’Donnell: “I thought we played well against Bohemians, we possibly just lacked that little bit of quality with the final ball, but it is always tough away to Bohemians and coming away with a draw is never a bad result. I thought we defended extremely well and didn’t give them a lot of chances and it was good to pick up our first clean sheet of the season, and we will be looking to build on that on Friday.”
On the game against the defending league champions this Friday, Callaghan is relishing the tag of underdogs his charges will carry against Liam Buckley’s men: “In the previous match against St Patrick’s Athletic I thought we played extremely well and were a bit unlucky not to pick up a result against a very strong side. In recent weeks our form has begun to improve again and we are hoping for another good performance and despite everyone rating us as underdogs going into the game I think we have every chance of picking up a good result.”
ST PATRICK’S ATH
The Saints will be looking for victory against lowly UCD as they visit the UCD Bowl on Friday night knowing victory would allow the defending champions to maintain their lead atop the SSE Airtricity League Premier Division standings. They will have to do so without centre back Derek Foran and forward Mark Quigley, although the latter is back training following injury.
Speaking to stpatsfc.com, Buckley praised his players for their attitude in recent weeks but was keen to stress that the work does not stop: “We’ve been going well in recent weeks, and a lot of credit must go to the players for their hard work both on and off the pitch. However we’ve got to keep going to stay in the mix near the top of the table, and that means we focus fully on UCD on Friday night.”
The Saints title winning boss is not taking UCD lightly, explaining that he knows how tough a task it will be to pick up three points on campus: “Aaron Callaghan has got his side settled now and they are definitely taking shape in the way he wants them to perform. They’ve picked up a few results lately so we know it’ll be a tough game, however our lads are keen to get out there again after last week’s great win so we’re all looking forward to Friday.”
Referee: Graham Kelly
MATCH STATS
UCD last defeated the defending champions in the league back in October of 2010. The Students ran out 2-1 winners with current Dundalk winger Darren Meenan netting a 91st minute winner at The UCD Bowl.
The Saints are unbeaten in the league since the 4-1 mauling suffered at the hands of Dundalk on April 4th.
Brendan Clarke, Ian Bermingham and Conan Byrne are the only three players to have played in all twelve of the Saints league outings to date.
In comparison, UCD have had the services of Conor O’Donnell, Robbie Creevy, Chris Mulhall, Robert Benson and Cillian Morrison in all of their clashes this campaign.
BETTING
UCD 9/1; Draw 4/1; St Patrick’s Athletic 2/7.
PREDICTION
2-2 draw.
UCD
Injured: Ayman Ben Mohamed (Knee), Dean Clarke (Back), Tomas Boyle (Hamstring)
Doubtful: Ian Ryan, Cillian Morrison
Suspended: None
St Patrick’s Ath
Injured: Derek Foran (Knee), Mark Quigley
Doubtful: None
Suspended: None
