League Preview: Shamrock Rovers -v- St. Patrick’s Athletic

Joe Redmond and Rory Gaffney challenge for the ball in Tallaght

Joe Redmond and Rory Gaffney challenge for the ball in Tallaght Credit: Liam Coughlan (ETPhotos)

SHAMROCK ROVERS

St. Patrick’s Day sees Shamrock Rovers host St. Patrick’s Athletic at Tallaght Stadium with a 5pm kick-off.

The Hoops are hoping to finally get their first league win of the season having made their worst start to a league campaign for 18 years - the season when they were docked eight points and were relegated.

Should they fail to beat the Athletic, you’d have to go back to the 2002/03 season for as bad a start to the opening to a league campaign.

Three points would kick start their quest for their fourth league title in a row – it would give them a higher points tally after six games than they managed in 2010 when their won their first league title playing out of Tallaght Stadium.

Last time out the Hoops played out a scoreless draw with Shelbourne at Tolka Park. “There was frustration in the dressing room afterwards,” admitted Hoops Head Coach Stephen Bradley.

“The players knew that we had performed well and created enough opportunities to win the game, so the frustration was that we didn’t capitalise on what was good in the performance."

“We had four good opportunities in the game which we didn’t take, and there was some very good play leading up to them.

"There were a few factors to that including when you’re playing against a team that doesn’t commit too many to the press. It’s hard to move the ball at the tempo that we like on the pitch there too. We created our opportunities while restricting them to six or seven touches in our box. A lot of the performance was good, we take that, and move on."

Rovers did earn their first clean sheet of the season – Alan Mannus 100th in the league for Rovers as he equalled the club record of 120 in all competitions.



“We pride ourselves on clean sheets, and while we haven’t had many of them at the start of this season, the balance on Friday was very good and we didn’t give up many opportunities. I’m delighted for Alan to have another clean sheet to his name and to equal the record."

The Hoops will be without Simon Power, who picked up a hamstring injury in Rovers’ 2-1 away defeat to Bray Wanderers in the Leinster Senior Cup during the week.

There are injury doubts over Dylan Watts and Markus Poom, while Aaron Greene suffered a family bereavement this week.

ST. PATRICK’S ATHLETIC

Both sides came into the season with expectations of challenging at the top of the table so it is strange, albeit after only five games, that the Saints sit in the relegation play-off position and the Hoops just one position above them. Both teams have four points.



The Saints travel to Tallaght this afternoon and will be back by a packed away section containing over 1,200 supporters. Those fans may get restless though should they see their team lose their fourth league game in a row – in a venue where they haven’t won in the league in seven seasons.

“The results in the last week have not been good,” acknowledged Tim Clancy. “It is a case of picking the lads up and getting them going for the game (in Tallaght).

“It is important that we get back to winning ways. If you put a string of wins in a row, you’ll climb the table pretty quickly and is what we are hoping to start.

“Rovers haven’t become a bad team over night. They’ve had a slow start to the season and have a lot of threats and quality throughout their squad.”

Anto Breslin was talking ahead of the game about the recent three losses in a row. “We know it hasn’t been good enough. The performances haven’t been there. We know the areas we are struggling in and we are working hard on them all week.

“I’m confident in the group. We have a serious amount of quality in all areas of the pitch. This group has a lot of experience of playing in front of big crowds like in Europe.

Last time out, the Athletic lost a home Dublin derby to Bohemians not helped by a 73rd minute red card for Jamie Lennon who will miss the game in Tallaght today due to suspension.

They only managed five shots in that game – with just two on target. They’ve only reached double digits in shots in the one game so far this season and that was in the heavy 5-0 home defeat to Dundalk.

Referee: Damien MacGraith
 

MATCH STATS
The Athletic’s last league victory in the Tallaght league came on 18th March 2016 with current Kerry FC manager Billy Dennehy opening the scoring before Christy Fagan added to give them a 2-0 win.

Last season the teams played each other five times. They met for the curtain opener of the 2022 season in the President’s Cup in Tallaght. Rovers prevailed on penalties to lift that trophy for the first time. After the Saints 1-0 win in Inchicore in early March, Rovers defeated the Saints home (1-0) and away (2-1). When the sides met in Tallaght, it late October the Hoops won 4-1.

Tim Clancy has tinkered with his formation throughout the season so far – playing 3-4-2-1 against Bohs and the opening game of the season against Derry, 5-3-2 in the 2-1 away loss by Sligo Rovers, 4-2-3-1 in the 5-0 loss to the Lilywhites and 4-3-3 v Shels in their only win of the campaign.

PREDICTION

2-0 home win

 

Shamrock Rovers

Injured: Simon Power

Doubtful: Aaron Greene, Markus Poom, Dylan Watts,

Suspended: None

 

St. Patrick’s Athletic

Injured: Harry Brockbank, Danny Rogers

Doubtful: Tom Grivosti

Suspended: Jamie Lennon

About Macdara Ferris

Macdara Ferris is a contributor since 2007 to Hoops Scene (Shamrock Rovers' match day programme) and is the co-author of two books on Shamrock Rovers - 'Tallaght Time: Shamrock Rovers 2009 to 2012' (with Karl … View Full Profile