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

ST PATRICKS ATHLETIC

St Patricks Athletic will be aiming to register their third home win in a row and extend their unbeaten run to five games when they host Waterford at Richmond Park on Friday night (KO 7.45pm).

Pats have accumulated eight points out of a maximum twelve in their last four games with two wins and two draws enabling them to climb to fifth place in the league table only seven points off leaders Shelbourne.

They will probably feel they should have picked up all three points in their last game away to Dundalk but they had to settle for one point in a 0-0 draw at Oriel Park.

Dundalk are propping up the table with only four points on the board, but with the recent sacking of Stephen O'Donnell the Lilywhites were probably in a very resilient mode last Friday night and they managed to thwart Pats and deny them the three points.

Jon Daly’s side restricted Dundalk to only one serious attempt on goal over the course of the 90 minutes but they themselves were very wasteful in front of goals with Conor Keeley and Mason Melia both missing good opportunities to claim all three points.

Manager Jon Daly spoke to the Pats media team this week and said: "Our home form in recent weeks has been good so we need to try and continue to build on that and give the crowd something to get behind.

"The crowd is always loud and always at it, so it's great for the players to hear that and have that support. We won back- to- back home games the last time we were at Richmond and we'll be hoping to continue that with a good performance and the three points.

"It's important we go into the game full of energy and to be mindful that they have some very good players.

"We've said it numerous times before about being ruthless when our chances come and that we're calm in the final third"

WATERFORD

Waterford will be hoping their trip to the capital on Friday night will be as productive as their last trip when they picked up all three points in a 1-0 win over Bohemians.

They followed up that win with a 0-0 draw at home to fellow Premier Division newcomers Galway United to leave them currently in seventh position on 12 points.

They are only two points adrift of their next opponents and as they already beat Pats comprehensively earlier in the season at the RSC, they will not lack for confidence when they run out at Richmond Park on Friday night.

They might have expected to do better against Galway last weekend as it was a home game as the RSC, but they found John Caulfield’s team difficult opponents this season having already lost to them by 2-1 in Eamonn Deacy Park earlier in the season.

In team news, former Saints academy player Ryan Burke was red carded against Galway Utd so will miss out due to a one match suspension while Brian Baggley will also be unavailable due to a back injury.

On a more positive note, Robbie McCourt is available again for Keith Long’s side having missed out on the Galway Utd game.

Waterford also moved quickly to replace Alan Reynolds at the RSC (Reynolds left to become manager of Bohemians) and have appointed Matt Lawlor on an interim basis as assistant manager to Long.

Referee: David Dunne

MATCH STATS

These two sides have only met twice since the end of the 2021 league season and on both occasions, Waterford have come out on top scoring three goals on the two occasions.

They clashed in the FAI Cup in July 2022 and won 3-2 with their goals coming from the now departed Wassim Aouachria (2) and Junior Quitirna. Tom Grivosti and Ronan Coughlan scored the two goals for Pats. Coughlan then joined Waterford for the 2023 season and went on to score 37 goals for the Blues before departing for Fleetwood Town this season.

Their league clash in the early part of the 2024 season was also a high scoring affair with the Keith Long managed Waterford winning by 3-1 at the RSC Waterford. Padraig Amond (2) and Maleace Asamoah netted for the home side with Anto Breslin replying for Pats.

PREDICTION

St Patrick's Athletic 1-0 Waterford

St Patricks Athletic  

Injured: Tom Grivosti, Ruairi Keating

Doubtful:  None

Suspended: None

Waterford

Injured:  Brian Baggley

Doubtful: None

Suspended: Ryan Burke