Season Review 2022: St Patrick's Athletic

Team: St Patricks Athletic

Head Coach: Tim Clancy

Top Scorer: Eoin Doyle (15 goals, 14 in the Premier Division and one in the Presidents Cup - 2^nd highest scorer in the Premier Division behind Aidan Keena, Sligo Rovers on 18 goals)

Stadium: Richmond Park

Highest Attendance: 6,760 (v CSKA Sofia, August 11)

Lowest Attendance: 1,900 (v Sligo Rovers August 14)

Star Player: Joe Redmond

22-year-old Tallaght born Redmond was the standout performer for the Saints this season, making 42 starts for the team and helping them to a fourth-place finish in the table on 61 points.

The ex-Birmingham City youth player had spells with Cork City and Drogheda United after being released by the English club in May 2021.

He impressed then Drogheda manager Tim Clancy so much during his time with the Boynesiders that he was one of Clancy’s first signings when he took over the reins at Inchicore, signing a contract in December 2021 ahead of the 2022 season.

He was superb at the heart of the Pats defence throughout the season, particularly in the early stages when he helped the team to keep eight clean sheets in their first 15 games.

His performances at home were closely monitored by Jim Crawford, the Ireland U21 manager, and he was duly rewarded for his consistency when selected by Crawford for the UEFA U21 Championship qualification play-off games against Israel in September.

Best Young Player: Ben McCormack

19-year-old home grown talent Ben McCormack had an excellent season making 17 appearances for the Saints, 10 as substitute.

He is a central midfielder with a box-to-box style of play, not unlike his more decorated colleague Chris Forrester, and he also has an eye for goal, scoring two goals this season.

His standout performance this season was in the 2-1 away win at UCD where he came off the bench as a 72^nd minute substitute for Jason McClelland and proceeded to turn the game in Pats favour.

He was fouled by Liam Kerrigan in the penalty area and when Eoin Doyle’s penalty kick was parried by the UCD keeper, McCormack was quickest to react powering the rebound into the net.

He then sealed the three points with an assist in the 89^th minute, firing in a corner kick which Joe Redmond finished to the net. 

Best New Signing: Serge Atakayi

Serge Atakayi only joined St Patricks Athletic mid-season, in late July, as a replacement for Darragh Burns who was transferred to MK Dons.

A very similar type of player to Burns, both of them speedy right wingers, he had a tough task in following the footsteps of the fans favourite from Stamullen Co Meath who had scored four goals in 22 appearances before going across channel.

Atakayi won over the fans very quickly however and certainly endeared himself to their travelling supporters with an 87^th minute winner away to CSKA Sofia in the Europa Conference League.

He also went on to beat Burns goalscoring efforts in fact, scoring four league goals in just 13 appearances and as he signed an 18- month contract when joining the Saints in July he looks set to become an even more prominent member of the squad in the 2023 season.  

What we expected they would do:

The extratime.com team put together their predictions for the Premier Division ahead of the 2022 season with Shamrock Rovers expected to win a three in a row (they did) and St Patricks Athletic predicted to finish in third place behind second placed Derry City.

What they actually did:

SSE Airtricity League Premier Division

St Patricks Athletic finished in fourth position in the table on 61 points, with only five points separating them from Derry City and Dundalk who both finished on 66 points (Derry City finished second because of their superior goal difference).

They missed out on automatic qualification for European competitions but may still make it into the Europa Conference league next season if Derry City manage to beat Shelbourne in the Extra.ie FAI Cup final on November 13^th

The Saints put together one four-game winning sequence in August/September, bu could not replicate that level of performance at any other stage of the season.

A level of inconsistency was their main downfall as they lost 11 games and drew seven games over the course of the 36-game league campaign.

Their cause was not helped by the loss mid-season of loaned goalkeeper Joseph Anang who returned to West Ham United (he was subsequently loaned out again to Derby County) and flying winger Darragh Burns who was transferred to MK Dons.

They did have the satisfaction however of having a very run in the Europa Conference League, initially beating Slovenian side Mura over two legs in the Second Qualifying Round ,1-1 at home in the first leg and 6-5 on penalties after a 0-0 draw in the away leg.

They then faced experienced European campaigners CSKA Sofia from Bulgaria in the third qualifying round and added another chapter to their history books with a famous 1-0 away win.

Serge Atakayi was the goalscoring hero in Sofia, he rounded the keeper to slot into an empty net in the 87^th minute for the winner.

They then lost the home leg by 2-0 and exited the competition at that stage.

FAI Cup

Their last 16 FAI Cup match against Waterford came bang in the middle of their European campaign, three days after their away leg against Mura in Slovenia and four days before they travelled to Bulgaria to face CSKA Sofia.

Their focus certainly seemed elsewhere when they faced First Division side Waterford at home on July 31 and although they did score twice through Ronan Coughlan (penalty) and Tom Girvosti, they conceded three goals to exit the competition 3-2 at the first hurdle.

The performances of Waterford since that clash might put a slightly different perspective on that result however, as the Blues have more than proved their credentials in the latter half of the season.

They went all the way to the FAI Cup semi-final before losing to Shelbourne and they are also in the promotion/relegation play-off final against Premier Division side UCD.