League Preview: St. Patrick’s Athletic -v- Cork City

• Luke Jordan
• Fri, Jul 07 2023




St. Patricks Athletic 

The Saints come into this game after thumping UCD 7-0 at Richmond Park last Friday night. Since the appointment of Jon Daly, the Athletic have now won eight of the 11 games the Dubliner has been in charge. 

With the upturn in form, Jon Daly’s men have played themselves into the title conversation and will want to continue their momentum ahead of tough European clashes against F91 Dudelange on the horizon. 

On Cork City, the last time they visited Inchicore the Leesiders where well beat on the night losing 4-0. The St. Pat’s Head Coach acknowledged the quality of the opposition and the improvement in the results since the arrival of former Saint Liam Buckley at the helm. 

"Cork are a good side who I'd imagine will have a few new signings in their group too, they have done well since Liam Buckley and the coaching team took over, they've had some good results and they are a threat, which we'll be fully aware of and we want to try to put in another positive performance”, said Daly speaking to the St. Pats media team. 

With another home crowd sell out expected for Pats, Daly spoke of the importance of the home crowd at Richmond Park. 

“I've said it before, the support has been fantastic and it is a huge help to the players as they feel the energy, we are fully aware that we need to give them something to shout about and we'll be doing over very best to do that."

St. Pats will be without Tom Grivosti (ACL) who is out for the season. Captain Joe Redmond and Axel Sjoberg (Hamstrings) are still out but are closer to returns. David Odumosu is unavailable as he left on loan to Cliftonville. 

Harry Brockbank is fit again, while new signings David Norman Jr. and Matt Boylan could feature. 

 

Cork City 

Liam Buckley will be looking for a better performance after heavily criticising his players after their 1-1 draw with Drogheda United last week. 

Speaking pre match, joint interim manager Richie Holland said he wants to see a reaction against Pats this Friday night. 

“It wasn’t acceptable really. In terms of our energy levels, in terms of our application to go and try win a big football match I don’t think it was anywhere near the level that we’ve set. 

“I think the lads know that themselves, we need to be better. You come into a big game and lot of players didn’t perform, it just wasn’t good enough. 

So, on Friday, we are looking for a reaction, in terms of application, in terms of energy, in terms of quality on the ball and hopefully we can go on and get three points”. 

On the opposition, Holland was bullish stating that while it will be a difficult game, his side our well able to get three points against one of the inform sides in the division. 

“It’s going to be a difficult game, they all are. What I would say is we have shown that we can compete with the best in the league. It’s just getting that consistency. There’s a good performance in the lads every week. 

There competing against these sides, because when we do, generally we’re in games as you can see. We’ve beaten some of the best teams in the division, we just need to bring our game back to what it probably was before the break and that we can compete and hopefully get three points”. 

On the injury front, there were no concerns for the game except for the long-term absentees. New signing Conor Drinan could feature for the Rebel Army. 

 

Referee: David Dunne 

PREDICTION:  3-1 home win

St. Patrick’s Athletic 

Injured: Tom Grisvosti, Joe Redmond, Axel Sjoberg, Kian Leavy

Doubtful:

Suspended: None. 

Cork City

Injured: Tobi Oluwayemi, Darragh Crowley, Albin Winbo, Ethan Varian

Doubtful: None. 

Suspended: None.

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