St. Patrick's Athletic v Shamrock Rovers

• P.J. Murray
• Thu, Sep 09 2010


RTE 2 will be at Richmond Park to broadcast this top of the table clash as Michael O’Neill’s Shamrock Rovers can take a massive step towards their first league title in 16 years. (kick off 7.45)

Rovers are unbeaten in their last four matches in all competitions and have won five from six the only blemish being a 2-1 defeat away to Sligo in the EA Sports Cup. A win at Richmond would open up a massive ten point gap between Pats and Rovers and one would imagine that would seal a league win for the Hoops.

St. Pats on the other hand, after dominating the middle of the season, are currently trying to regain some stable form after losing away to Bray and drawing at home to Sligo and away to Galway in recent matches.

Of their three meetings this side it is the Tallaght side who have headed up the contests with two wins to Pats one with 2-1 being the score line in both cases and both at home and away. St. Pats win was way back at the beginning of the season when they travelled to Tallaght Stadium and came away with a 2-0 victory.

Rovers make the short journey with plenty of support as they have sold their allocation of tickets which stands at over 1,500 and Michael O’Neill will not have too much in terms of injuries to deal with.

There are serious doubts over the availability of Robert Bayly, who has a knee injury while Pat Flynn will serve the second of his two match ban for a straight red card in the Bohemians game. Aidan Price is available again after missing last week’s Sligo game through injury. Pat Sullivan (knee) remains out.

Pete Mahon will be once again able to call on Dave Mulcahy while Paul Byrne has been ruled out for the season with a fractured ankle. Derek Doyle is the Saints only suspension ahead of the game.

A defiant Pete Mahon stated that with only seven points in the difference and eight games remaining that it’s not over yet. Mahon has pinpointed Rovers defence as their main strength and has said that they are not a team without weakness which he will be looking to exploit.

The Saints manager has also added “We’re in a pretty good position in terms of bodies and it’s great to have Dave Mulcahy available again. It’s disappointing to lose Derek Doyle, he gives us great balance I like left footed players playing on the left, he has been playing well and scoring a few goals also”.

“We can’t afford to lose and go 10 points behind Rovers if we want to win the title. This is our second must win game against Rovers. We played them at the end of last season when we needed to avoid relegation. It’s the same three points on offer but this time it’s for vastly different reasons. We have already improved a lot since last season, Rovers finished second last year so the pressure is really on them to go one better.”

Rovers manager Michael O’Neill feels that the short distance required to reach the ground will be an advantage to his players. “Looking back at the last game of the season in Richmond Park, I feel that was probably one of our best, if not the best, performance of our season so far. The players like going to Richmond, and it is easy for them to get up for games there.

“Quite a few of the players have come into some great form in the last month or so. The players we have brought into games lately – like Sean O’Connor last week – have been excellent, just when we needed them. And we need that to continue over the next couple of months, especially tomorrow night. It will be a tough game, but the players are all really looking forward to it.”

St. Patrick’s Athletic
Injured: Paul Byrne
Doubtful: None
Suspended: Derek Doyle
Shamrock Rovers
Injured: Pat Sullivan
Doubtful: Robert Bayly
Suspended: Pat Flynn

Referee: D. McKeon
Extratime.ie Prediction: Pats to keep the league interesting 3-2 win