General
- Thursday March 14th, 2024 @ 14:15
Preview: Saints Vs Shels (15/03/24)
The Saints will be playing their second Dublin derby of the season at Richmond Park as they do battle with Shelbourne on Friday night.
The match is totally sold out, all home and away tickets are gone, meaning we'll have just over 5,000 supporters packed into Inchicore for the 7.45pm kick-off.
St Pat's come into the game off the back of a 1-0 win over Dundalk last Friday at Richmond.
Having created chances throughout the opening stages, they finally broke the deadlock through Ruairi Keating just before half-time.
The goal continued Keating's strong start to the season, with Friday's winner being his league second goal of the season so far.
Jon Daly's men have got six points from their opening five games, and currently sit in 6th position in the Premier Division table.
OPPOSITION WATCH:
This Friday's fixture will be our 147th league meeting with Shelbourne and the tale of the tape is close call.
St Pat's have won 55, there have been 25 draws and Shelbourne have won 56 times.
Shels have visited Richmond Park 73 times in league history, and the Saints have won on 32 occasions, with the visitors winning 22 times. There have been 19 draws in our home meetings with our North Dublin rivals.
The Reds currently sit top of the Premier Division table, with 13 points from their five league games, four wins and a draw.
Their last game was a 2-0 win away to Bohemians.
Damien Duff's side left it late to secure the three points at Dalymount Park, with a Will Jarvis penalty and a Gavin Molloy strike both coming in the last ten minutes.
Shelbourne finished last season in 4th place with 60 points, two behind Pat's.
The Saints Sports Direct FAI Cup Final victory against Bohemians last November meant 4th place in the League secured Europe with Shels set for the UEFA Europa Conference League qualifiers.
These sides met four times in the league in 2023, with three wins for Pat's and one for Shels.
All of the wins for St Pat's came by one goal to nil with set piece goals proving the difference in the three derby victories.
The last encounter between these sides was a 2-1 win for Shels at Tolka Park in September.
Joe Redmond had given us the lead before goals from Euclides Cabral and Paddy Barrett earned the home side all three points.
The last win for St Pat's in this fixture was in June 2023 thanks to a stunning Jake Mulraney free-kick.
The first meeting of last season was in February and that one was decided by an 84th minute Eoin Doyle strike in Inchicore.
St Pat's other trip to Tolka Park last season was back in May and it proved to be a special one for teenage defender Sam Curtis, who scored his first goal in senior football to separate the sides and give his team the 1-0 win.
DALY: "It's important to make Richmond a fortress"
Manager Jon Daly is hoping to make it two wins in a row tomorrow night:
"We are looking forward to the game and will be aiming to put in a positive performance as we look to build on the win against Dundalk.
It was a good three points for us and will give us confidence heading into this Friday, it's a game we'll be well prepared for.
It will be a very tough battle against a Shelbourne side who have started the season really well, they are flying at the moment and have been winning games and playing well.
As always the home support is a huge help to us, and we will really need it again on Friday.
Richmond Park will be bouncing so we're looking forward to it."
TURNER: "We need the fans to help us win the game"
Winter recruit Luke Turner has started all five league games for Jon Daly's side so far and, with his side's clean sheet on Friday against Dundalk, will be looking to build on that this Friday:
"We were happy with the three points on Friday against Dundalk, it was all about getting a clean sheet as we know the threat that we have up top and Keats got us the winner.
The fans are going to be right up against the pitch and they are going to make it a great atmosphere and make it hard for Shels.
We need our supporters to help us win the game.
We'll be looking to nullify Shels' threats and focus on our strong points, football is about results and we want to go and win the game.
Hopefully we can come out on top on Friday, that's what we'll be aiming for, nothing less."
Watch Luke's full interview on our Youtube.
TEAM NEWS:
Tom Grivosti (knee and hamstring) continues his recovery, Romal Palmer is still building up to match fitness after his arrival on the eve of the season while Ryan McLaughlin (calf) will miss out having gone off in the opening minutes of last Monday's game in Waterford.
TICKETS / TV / UPDATES
The match is totally sold out, all home and away tickets are gone, meaning we'll have just over 5,000 supporters packed into Inchicore for the 7.45pm kick-off.
Oisin Langan and Keith Treacy will be in the LOITV commentary box with former Saints Colin Hawkins and Barry Murphy joined Aoife Mullen for a live watch party on the Official St Patrick's Athletic App, which you can download for free from our App Store.
Updates will also be available across all the club's social media channels and our new Whatsapp Channel.
Photo credit: Sportsfile
