St. Patrick's Athletic -v- Shamrock Rovers

• Gareth Penrose
• Sat, Jul 04 2009


Its Dublin derby time at Inchicore on Saturday night (kick-off 20:00) as St. Patrick’s Athletic welcome Shamrock Rovers to Richmond Park hoping to reduce the ten point gap between the sides.

St. Pat’s manager, Jeff Kenna will be looking to stop a trio of defeats this season against the Hoops, after losing out in the League Cup and in the League. .

“Rovers beat us 2-0 in the league and also in the League Cup and nobody likes losing matches especially Derby matches. They’re a good side they pose a real threat up front with the likes of Twigg, Baker, Amond and Purcell and we’ll have to show the same levels of intensity as we did against Bohs to get a result on Saturday night” .

Kenna will have to plan without the services of leading striker and captain Mark Quigley who is out with a broken jaw sustained in the recent match with Drogheda United. Also on the treatment table and not available for the game is Damien Lynch (ankle), Darragh Ryan (hamstring), Gary Dempsey (leg) and Mark Leech (leg). Alan Cawley and Gints Freiman return to the squad but Dave Partridge and John Lester are both suspended. .

Shamrock Rovers are currently on a seven match unbeaten run, and manager Michael O’Neill believes his players are chomping at the bit to get back after having the week off, and are capable of beating the Saints on the home patch. .

“We went into the break on a high, and even though it was only a short break, a week off, everyone came back to training last Monday feeling very hungry for football. .

“The training’s been really good all week, the players are refreshed, and looking forward to the challenges facing us in the second half of the season.” .

“It’s a tough one, but we have the benefit of having gone there already this season, when we beat them in the EA Sports Cup. They’ve a good squad but we’ll be going there in confidence.” .

Rovers will be without Stephen Rice who is serving a one-match suspension, while there are doubts about the fitness of defender Darragh Maguire (knee) and goalkeeper Robert Duggan (thigh). .

Extratime.ie Prediction: 2-1 to Shamrock Rovers. .