League Preview: St Patrick’s Athletic -v- Cork City

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ST PATRICK’S ATHLETIC 

After a rocky start to the season, St Patrick’s Athletic have steadied the ship somewhat in the last fortnight when they picked up a draw and a win last week to give them four points out of a possible six .

Those results however have not taken them out of the relegation territory where they still occupy eighth place in the league table, one ahead of their opponents on Friday night.

The 2-2 draw against Shamrock Rovers at Tallaght Stadium was a highly commendable resutl and they followed that up last weekend with a comprehensive 3-0 home win against bottom of the table UCD.

The Saints had only scored two goals in their opening five matches so to have netted five in their last two games will have eased the nerves around Richmond Park.

They were never in much danger against the Students last weekend when Chris Forrester and Jake Mulraney gave them a healthy two goal lead at half time.

Forrester sealed the three points early in the second half when he availed of a sublime through ball from Jason McClelland to dink the ball over the UCD keeper to make it 3-0.

Manager Tim Clancy is aware of the strong challenge Cork City are likely to pose on Friday night, a point he made when he spoke to the St Pats media team during the week.

He said: "Cork have come up from the First Division and they've had a few good results so far this season. The last time they were in Dublin they scored four goals against Shamrock Rovers in Tallaght and got a good point.

“We watched their game against Drogheda last week. They've got good players and they are going to be very well organised under Colin Healy.

“We are expecting a tough game but it's one that we want to go to try and win and build on a good performance and result last week."

Danny Rogers (thumb), Harry Brockbank (calf) and Tom Girvosti (hamstring) are all on the injured list and unavailable for Friday night’s game.



 

CORK CITY

The Leesiders have found adapting to the pace and intensity of the Premier Division every bit as difficult as they might have imagined, and despite some encouraging performances, they have still only secured one win after seven games.

They sit one place off the bottom of table, with only UCD below them, and their sole three pointer so far was against the Students at home in early March.

Their rousing 4-4 draw with Shamrock Rovers in Tallaght Stadium was followed by another valuable point gained on the road against Sligo Rovers (2-2). However they have not built on that momentum much to the disappointment of their fans.

They played poorly when losing 2-0 at home to Shelbourne and were even more disappointed to surrender a 1-0 lead to Drogheda United at Turner’s Cross last weekend, that game ending in a 1-1 draw.



Manager Colin Healy spoke to the media during the week and said “We will go up there, if we go and perform, we can win the game. The players are looking forward to the challenge, it’s a good pitch, they are a good side and have some very good players.

“It will be a tough game but we need to be sure we are at it. If you are not at it in this league you will be beaten. We need to be focussed and do our job, if everybody is at it, we have a good chance of winning the game.”

He added: “Pats have some great players, like Chris Forrester, I played against him myself , he is a very intelligent footballer and a lot of stuff goes through him, so we need to keep him quite. They also have players in higher areas up the pitch that are very dangerous’’

Referee:  Rob Hennessy

MATCH STATS

The only recent match of relevance between these two sides was the last 16 stage of the FAI Cup match in Turner’s Cross back in August 2021.

All the action in that match was crammed into the closing stages of the game, with Chris Forrester giving St Pats a 1-0 lead from an 89th minute penalty only for City to add to the drama by getting a 95th minute equaliser courtesy of a Barry Coffey goal.

Extra-time could not separate the sides and when it went to penalties, it was heartbreak for City as misses by Coffey and Darragh Crowley allowed Alfie Lewis to seal a 4-1 win for St Pats and their progression to the quarter final.

 

BETTING

St Patricks Athletic 8/11; Draw 12/5; Cork City 7/2                         

PREDICTION

St Patricks Athletic   2   1   Cork City

 

St Patrick’s Athletic

Injured:  Danny Rogers, Harry Brockbank, Tom Girvosti.

Doubtful: None

Suspended: None

Cork City

Injured:  None

Doubtful: None

Suspended: None

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