St. Patrick's Athletic -v- Drogheda United

ST PATRICK’S ATHLETIC

Of the top four last season, Pats, in third, had scored the fewest goals but did boast the tightest defence. Goals seem to be the problem again for Liam Buckley’s side, they were eliminated from the Setanta Cup having failed to score against a Glentoran side who were subsequently defeated by Sligo Rovers.

Pats were ultimately hampered by draws last season, the majority coming in the first third of the year. Speaking ahead of the clash Pats’ manager Liam Buckley heaped praise on his opponents.

“They really did have a great season last year, not just with the second place finish, but also in winning the EA Sports Cup too.

“Mick [Cooke] has made some very good signings in the close season and I expect them to be challenging at the top of the league once more,” he added.

Despite Setanta cup elimination, Buckley was happy with the pre-season his team have had, saying “Pre-season has been long and a lot of hard work, but the players have been great since we got back together in January.  Now the opening game has finally come around and we’re fully focused on Drogheda.  They’ll again prove to be a really tough side to play against, as we saw in each of our games with them last year.”

Pats are still in the Leinster Senior Cup competition having accounted for Bangor Celtic running out 3-1 winners. Although they were given a fright when they fell behind after only three minutes. But Kenny Browne fired a double salvo before Sean Gannon sealed the win on 84 minutes.

The additions of Killian Brennan and Conan Byrne should bolster the Saints midfield and provide them with a wealth of attacking options. The sides will be familiar with each other after five games last season. Pats currently hold the bragging rights having eliminated Drogheda from the FAI cup on penalties, however The Saints failed to capitalise and were losing finalists to Derry City.

Liam Buckley will be without the services of the injured Dave Ryan and new signing Stephen Maher is suspended. This means that Brendan Clarke will start in-between the sticks for the Saints.

DROGHEDA UNITED

There is a consensus that last season for the Boynesiders was a complete freak and that they will fail to replicate the heroics this year. It was the constant writing off of Drogheda United which spurred them on to a second place finish and an EA Sports cup victory.

While Pats may be struggling for goals, Drogheda have already had a plethora of goal scorers in their opening Setanta Cup games. A 3-2 win at home to Portadown, followed by a 5-0 rout of the IFA side was followed up with a very credible 1-1 draw away to Derry City.

A top four finish and possibly a cup seems to be the goal for Drogheda. The architect behind Drogheda’s second-place finish Mick Cooke is looking forward to the forthcoming season, predicting it to be both exciting and close.

“I expect this to be a very exciting season and there will be no easy games, everyone has improved with Shamrock Rovers being the obvious front runners.”

Cooke’s only real loss in the off season was Paul Crowley who departed for Shelbourne, the addition of Paul O’Conor has replaced the midfielder and more.

“Both Liam and I have strengthened our squads since last season. They will be looking to improve, but for us there is only one place we can go if we are to improve on last season’s finish,” said Cooke.

The fact that his side are on the road for their first game doesn’t bother the Drogheda manager in the slightest, “I don’t mind traveling for the first game of the season, we will get them at Drogheda at some point during the season. But it probably suits us better to go to Richmond as we always bring a good support with us to Inchicore and there’s always a good atmosphere there.”

Mick Cooke’s only injury concern is Alan McNally who will be out for at least another month, recovering from a knee operation. The Drogheda manager admits that he will have some welcome selection headaches for not only tomorrow, but over the next few weeks.

“We have some games under our belt, including some friendlies and I’ve seen a lot of good performances which will leave me with a bit of a headache for tomorrow. I've a squad of 22, with 21 fit players. I’m lucky because everyone will be used over the next month, we have a lot of games coming up and I expect to utilise everyone in the team.”

Referee: Alan Kelly.

MATCH STATS

This is Brendan Clarke’s 50^th league appearance for St Pats

The sides met early on last season at Hunky Dorys Park and it finished 0-0, Drogheda’s only win in five against Pats last season was at Richmond

BETTING

St Pats 5/6; Draw 23/10; Drogheda United 16/5 .

PREDICTION

Flying in the face of conformity, 2-0 Drogheda.

St Patrick’s Athletic

Injured: Dave Ryan
Doubtful: None.
Suspended: Stephen Maher

Drogheda United

Injured: Alan McNally
Doubtful: None.
Suspended: None.