St. Patricks Athletic -v- Cork City

• Eoin Manning
• Sat, May 09 2009


It will quite literally be all eyes on Richmond Park on Saturday night as under-fire Jeff Kenna’s St. Patrick’s Athletic welcome in-form Cork City to The stadium of Light in the League Of Ireland Premier Division ( Kick Off 7:30 PM) under the glare of the nation’s media and Setanta Ireland’s live TV cameras.

Pat’s recent ragged league form has led many to wonder how much longer Richard Sadlier and the Saint’s board will keep faith with the former English Premier League winner. Though the Inchicore club did manage to defeat Paul Doolin’s side earlier in the season, they welcome a Cork team who are making great headway up the league table and are undefeated in the last seven Premier Division game.

Though Kenna, Sadlier and the Pat’s players themselves have been very bullish in their belief that the former Republic Of Ireland international is the man to turn things around and their faith is hardly misplaced given the 38-year-old’s track record.

Following last Monday’s league cup defeat to Shamrock Rover’s Kenna looked forward to Saturday’s game with great optimism: “We keep fighting the good fight; the players have to believe that it’ll turn.” Adding: “The Cork game is now massive for us.”

Speaking out in support of Kenna Pat’s CEO Sadlier also added: “I made the decision to bring in Jeff and I stand by that. I think it’s the right decision.” And supported his view by stating: “If you’re suggesting a change (the manager) should be made at Pat’s? Oh no!”

And the effervescent Ryan Guy added his weight to the debate saying all the right things: “Saturday night’s game will be a tough one. It’s important that we keep the right focus – concentrate on winning the game rather than any thoughts of damage limitation. We need to keep confidence in ourselves – we have shown that we can score against them and can beat them and that is the attitude we have to take into Saturday night’s game”.

Meanwhile down in Cork, Doolin’s magnificent building job isn’t getting even half the coverage that Kenna’s stuttering charges have received but the former UCD and Drogheda United boss seems unaffected. Instead concentrating on the job in hand: “I don’t like to talk about the opposition, because I would rather concentrate on our own team, but I do know that Pats will be tough opponents for us on Saturday. They may not have started as well as they would have hoped, so they will certainly be looking for a win, as we will also.”

Both managers have had to cope with lengthening injury lists as the season has progressed and recent suspensions to David Partridge and Jamie Harris for the Dublin outfit means Kenna is likely to again field rookie centre half Noel Haverty.

Gary Dempsey, Mark leech, Gints Freimanis, Bobby Ryan are all still unavailable for The Saints as is Glen Fitzpatrick. John Lester has returned to training however.

For Cork, Stephen O’Donnell, Neal Horgan, Robert Mezeckis, Davin O’Neill, Billy Dennehy and now Shane Duggan are all again marked absent.

Regardless of the outcome, this game will appeal to football fans on a variety of levels. A victory for Pat’s, would alleviate some pressure on their misfiring team and manager while a win for the Rebel Army could see them continue their somewhat unexpected title challenge.