League Preview: St. Patrick’s Athletic -v- Derry City

Action from Derry's 1-0 win over the Athletic in May 2024 at Richmond Park

Action from Derry's 1-0 win over the Athletic in May 2024 at Richmond Park Credit: Matthew Lysaght (ETPhotos)

ST PATRICK’S ATHLETIC

Richmond Park will be full to the rafters on Friday night when two of the last four contenders for the Premier Division league title clash with St. Patrick’s Athletic and Derry City meeting at the Inchicore venue (kick off 7.45 pm).

There are many permutations for the possible destination of the league title and this whole article could be devoted to these various scenarios, but for St Patrick’s Athletic to retain hope of annexing their first title since 2013, there is only one outcome that will keep that hope alive – they have to win the game against Derry City. A loss or a draw will end their chances of finishing top of the table for this season.

Their excellent form over the last few months gives them every chance of taking all three points and this would mean they may still be in contention when they travel away to Sligo Rovers next weekend for their final match of the campaign.

They have only lost once in their last 15 games and that was against European opposition, Istanbul Basaksehir, in the Conference League.

Their last defeat in domestic competitions was, ironically, against Derry City in the FAI Cup back in late July (they lost 3-0 at the Brandywell).

Manager Stephen Kenny is looking ahead to another big game in Inchicore and when he spoke to the Pats media team he said: “That has to be the objective to try to keep that run going and turn Derry over to get into the position to qualify for Europe at least.

“The players attitude in training has consistently been good throughout the season. We've been on a terrific run of results, so they want the games to come thick and fast.

“We'll get a really tough game against Derry. We hadn't beaten Bohemians, Waterford or Shelbourne all season in the three previous rounds of games, we beat those three in hard fought games and Derry are another one.

“They (Derry) have been in the ascendancy in all of the meetings this season, so we've got to keep that run going to turn Derry over on Friday. It must be the objective to get into the position to qualify for Europe at least."

DERRY CITY 

Derry City pay their second last visit to the capital on Friday night (they will be back for the FAI Cup final on November 10th) and they will be aiming to come away with a result that will make the visit of Shelbourne to the Brandywell next weekend effectively another winner takes all cup final with the league title the prize.



They currently trail Shelbourne by two points having despatched now relegated Dundalk by 2-0 in their last match in Oriel Park last weekend.

Since their exit from the Conference League in mid-July, they have played 13 league and cup games and only lost twice in that three-month period, certainly title winning form.

The Candystripes had three players selected on the PFAI Team of the Season, Mark Connolly, Michael Duffy and Pat Hoban, while the latter is also the league’s leading scorer to date with 14 goals.

They will have to do without Hoban on Friday night however as he joins a lengthy injury list that also includes Patrick McEleney, Ben Doherty and Ciaran Coll. Connolly also misses out due to suspension.

Manager Ruadhri Higgins spoke to the Derry Journal this week and is looking forward to the trip to Dublin. He said: “Over the last couple of weeks, we've obviously had a big win in Dalymount and a good one last week away from home as well.

“Our form has picked up away from home in recent times and we've won down there before this season, and hopefully we can replicate that again.



“We have a lot of top end players at the club. Although we do have some injuries, we still have some exceptional players that can win a game of football so we're really looking forward to it and we're not focusing on losing the game, we're focusing on winning the game.

“Their attacking players have been really, really good in recent weeks and caused problems for teams but I’ll back my players any day of the week.

"We've outstanding attacking talent as well. We may talk about their attacking talent, but I've absolutely no doubt that they'll have some concern about some of our attacking players as well so I'd rather focus on us.”

Referee: Rob Hennessy 

MATCH STATS

Derry City have very much had the upper hand on St Patrick’s Athletic in league and cup games this season, taking the maximum nine points off them in the three league games so far and also winning the FAI Cup clash in July

They have scored nine goals and only conceded two goals against the Saints, with the most recent game being that Cup clash at the Brandywell which finished 3-0 in favour of the Candystripes.

                                    

PREDICTION

St. Patrick’s Athletic 2 - 1 Derry City 

 

St. Patrick’s Athletic          

Injured: Mason Melia, Alex Nolan.

Doubtful: Jake Mulraney, Zack Elbouzedi.

Suspended: None

 

Derry City   

Injured: Ciaran Coll, Ben Doherty, Patrick McEleney, Pat Hoban

Doubtful: None

Suspended: Mark Connolly

 

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