League Preview: Dundalk -v- St Patrick's Athletic

DUNDALK

Dundalk will look to make it three wins from three in the SSE Airtricity League Premier Division when they take on a rejuvenated St Patrick’s Athletic at Oriel Park on Friday night (kick-off 7.45pm).

The Lilywhites picked up their fifth consecutive win in all competitions last weekend as they progressed to the quarter-finals of the FAI Cup, where they are to face local rivals Drogheda United next week.

Stephen Kenny’s side also have the League Cup final versus Shamrock Rovers to look forward to as the Dundalk manager looks to use their remaining league fixtures as a tonic to go on and win both cups.

David McMillan netted his 16th goal of the season with a first-half header in last week’s FAI Cup win over Crumlin United and he has been a key component to Dundalk’s success in recent seasons.

The 28-year-old is no stranger to St Pats having spent the entire 2011 season at Richmond Park.

“St Pats have been in very good form in the league, they’ve won a lot of their games and kind of pulled away from the bottom a little bit,” the Templeogue native told the club’s official website.

“They added a lot of experience in the transfer window in July so it’ll be a different side probably to what we faced earlier in the year.

“It’ll be a good test for us, we are at Oriel Park for it and we expect to win at home and hopefully we can go and do that. It should be a good game and hopefully we will have a lot of people out to support us.”

Dundalk are again without club captain Stephen O’Donnell and Robbie Benson, who both miss out due to hamstring problems, while Jamie McGrath has appendicitis and is unavailable to face his former club.

ST PATRICK’S ATHLETIC

It’s possible that Liam Buckley and St Patrick’s Athletic will not have lost too much sleep following their exit from the FAI Cup at home to Galway United last weekend.

They can now switch their full attention to avoiding a first-ever relegation since the League of Ireland was split into two divisions in 1985.

Four wins from their last five league outings has put them well on course to avoid the dreaded drop but their chances on Friday could really depend on which Dundalk decides to show up as the Saints travel up to Oriel Park in search of their first league win at the Louth venue since 2012.

St Pats know they will need to perform much better than they did in their last visit to Dundalk when they succumbed to a 3-0 defeat when a brace from Patrick McEleney and a Ciaran Kilduff goal handed the Lilywhites all three points back in March.

Referee: Jim McKell

MATCH FACTS

Sean Gannon, Sean Hoare, Steven Kinsella, David McMillan and Gary Rogers (Dundalk) along with Kurtis Byrne (St Patrick’s Athletic) are all in contention to face their former clubs in this fixture.

St Pats haven’t recorded a league win at Oriel Park in their previous six visits to the Louth venue – their last success was a 1-0 win thanks to a Sean O’Connor goal back in August 2012.

There has been a total of 205 encounters between both clubs since their first meeting in the Leinster Senior Cup final in 1950 – Dundalk have won 87 of those while St Pats have tasted victory 72 times.

BETTING

Dundalk 1/2; Draw 15/4; St Patrick’s Athletic 8/1

PREDICTION

Dundalk 2-0 St Patrick’s Athletic

Dundalk

Injured: Robbie Benson, Jamie McGrath, Stephen O’Donnell.

Doubtful: None.

Suspended: None.

St Patrick’s Athletic

Injured: Unknown.

Doubtful: Unknown.

Suspended: None.