Preview: Derry City vs St Patricks Athletic

• Ciaran Duffy
• Mon, Apr 07 2008




For the second time in 4 days, the eircom League’s top two are preparing to do battle. Derry took the spoils to leapfrog their opponents on a wet Friday night in Inchicore and Johnny McDonnell will not be happy at surrendering the top spot. Tonight, however, it’s Setanta Cup duty.

Derry crashed to a miserable 3-1 defeat to Linfield in the opening game and although the fans won’t have liked that, Stephen Kenny has said that the domestic league is his main concern. Perched nicely at the top of the eircom now, after four wins and a draw, the fans have probably forgiven Kenny and the lacklustre performances of what looked to be a shaky defence are now all forgotten.

Long term injuries to Sean Hargan and Mark McCrystal have meant that Kenny has had to re-shuffle things at the back but Delaney and Hutton have grown into their roles. Stephen Gray is much improved at left back and combines well with Morrison on the wing which will be food for thought for Hargan.

Eddie McCallion served a suspension against Drogheda last week but McGlynn, his replacement cover, retained the right-back berth for the victory on Friday night also. However, with a hectic 4 games in 12 days ahead, the squad may rotate and some fresher faces will pop in and out of the team sheet.

St Pats fought toughly for a 3-3 draw in their Setanta opener with Glentoran and will be hoping to put aside Friday night’s league defeat to concentrate on this inter-association tie.

You can expect to see a few changes to the St Pats line-up tonight after a tough match on Friday night. Brendan Clarke may suffer the chop in nets after his howler of a clearance gifted Derry the only goal of the night - although Morrison showed great technique and nerve to convert the 35 yard lob. He’ll likely be replaced by Barry Ryan who only missed the last two matches through suspension. There will be a question mark over the appearance of Joseph Ndo who seems to be back in training after an injury.