League Preview: St. Patrick's Athletic -v- Derry City

ST PATRICK'S ATHLETIC

The Saints will be looking to avenge last Friday's 3-0 defeat to league champions Dundalk with a tough task ahead of them against Derry City, while the Candystripes will be looking to push from their 1-1 draw away to Sligo Rovers on Saturday.

"The great thing about having a game so quickly after the Dundalk game is that we get the chance to put things right against Derry," admitted Saints' midfielder Conan Byrne to stpatsfc.com. "We know we didn't do ourselves justice in Dundalk so we've to go out on Tuesday and get a result."

The last time these two side met it was for a very different occasion as both sides battled in the FAI Cup Final in the Aviva stadium, St. Pats went on to record a 2-0 victory against Peter Hutton's side thanks to goals from Christy Fagan ending their 53 year wait for the trophy. Byrne looking back on the events on a famous Sunday in November stated.

"Yeah things are very different compared to back then alright, but  our thought process is the same; we're going to win a game and are very motivated to do so."

Reflecting on the events on Friday night Bucklet stated to stpatsfc.com "We were all very disappointed about the loss to Dundalk on Friday. We've got to bounce back though and we can do that starting Tuesday by going out and getting a result. We know Derry are a very good side and they've a lot of local players who are very talented. But we've to concentrate on ourselves, and if we do things right, we'll hopefully get a result."

The Saints are without the services of suspended duo Conor McCormack and Killian Brennan, while Liam Buckley is to give late fitness tests Ger O'Brien, Jason McGuinness (both hamstring) and Brendan Clarke (ankle) before kick-off to determine their availability.

DERRY CITY

Derry City will be hoping to pull off a shock in Inchicore tomorrow as they go into the game as  a firm underdog and hoping that they can build on a promising performance against Silgo Rovers.

Peter Hutton is going into the game against St. Pats finding himself struggling to field a fully fit side in the game. Mark Timlin's late red card at Silgo added to his owes as Hutton could be without Ryan McBride, Shaun Kelly, Barry McNamee and Dean Jarvis added to the absence of Stephen Dooley due to injury.

Speaking to the Derry News about Mark Timlin's red card at Silgo he stated " To be fair to Mark I thought he couldn't get out of the way in both occasions," he believed, "The guy just ran across him and Mark with his momentum couldn't stop himself. I thought that both cards were harsh, but when you have the whole Silgo bench jumping up, almost onto the pitch, it's certainly going to influence the referee,which I think it did."

Peter Hutton has a selection headache to contend with as key player, McBride is a huge doubt after he pulled up in the warm up on Friday night.Again speaking to the Derry News Hutton explained how the injury happened, "Ryan was able to train this week and he was okay to play but sitting on the bus going down his back took a spasm."

Hutton carried on to explain that, "Shaun Kelly has an issue with his knee which we're managing but he has gone over his ankle and it was blown up. Dean Jarvis meanwhile has stubbed his toe pretty badly and it's very painful so he had to come off."  Hutton admitted that they are "down to the bare bones" and is "very doubtful that all those carrying knocks will make the game."

Referee:Anthony Buttimer

MATCH STATS

The game last year between the two sides at Richmond Park resulted in a 5-2 win for St. Pats 

Derry City have won 14 out of 28 meetings between the sides

Derry City haven't beaten St Pats at Richmond Park in the league since October 2009.

BETTING

St Patrick’s 8/13; Draw 5/2; Derry City 5/1

PREDICTION

St Patrick's Athletic 2-1 Derry City

St Patrick's Athletic

Injured: None

Doubtful: Ger O'Brien (Hamstring), Jason McGuinness (Hamstring), Brendan Clarke (ankle)

Suspended: Conor McCormack and Killian Brennan.

Derry City

Injured: Stephen Dooley (Back)

Doubtful: Ryan McBride(Back), Shaun Kelly (Knee), Barry McNamee, Dean Jarvis(Toe)

Suspended: Mark Timlin.