General
- Thursday September 26th, 2024 @ 16:41
Match Preview: Shamrock Rovers V Saints (27/09/2024)
The Saints return to Tallaght Stadium for the first time since their European run as they face Shamrock Rovers in a huge Dublin Derby this Friday.
Kick-off is at 8pm.
Away tickets are totally sold out, with 1,300 St Patrick's Athletic supporters ready to cheer their team on, the game will also be shown live on LOITV.
The Saints come into this game off the back of a strong performance at Richmond Park against Waterford last week, which resulted in a 3-0 win for the home side.
Stephen Kenny's men were impressive from start to finish as they found themselves two goals to the good at half-time. Zack Elbouzedi opened the scoring in the 35th minute from the 11th Brandon Kavanagh assist of the season, before Mason Melia scored his sixth league goal of the campaign just four minutes later on the weekend of his 17th birthday.
It was summer signing Aidan Keena who made it three, with a thumping effort smashing in off the woodwork to make it an impressive run of four wins and one draw in the last five Premier Division games for the Inchicore side.
OPPOSITION WATCH
Shamrock Rovers last outing was a 1-0 win against Bohemians at Tallaght Stadium on Monday. A late Graham Burke strike secured all three points in the Dublin derby.
Rovers currently sit in 3rd place in the Premier Division, with 49 points from their 31 league games, four points behind leaders Shelbourne and eight ahead of Pat's.
The Saints have a positive record against Rovers this season, with two wins and one draw in three league meetings.
The most recent of these games was a 2-1 victory for St Pat's on June 13th.
Johnny Kenny had Stephen Bradley's side 1-0 up at half time, before a Ruairi Keating finish and a 96th minute header from Brandon Kavanagh helped Pat's to the three points at the death in a moment that sent fans at Richmond Park wild.
On May 10th, St Pat's visited Tallaght Stadium and played out an enthralling 2-2 draw. Aaron Greene opened the scoring for the home side before Luke Turner equalised.
Dan Cleary put Rovers back in front in the 60th minute, but just four minutes later, Jamie Lennon picked the ball up deep within his own half and spotted Mason Melia making a run in behind the Rovers' defence, playing an inch-perfect clipped ball over the top.
Melia stayed cool and lobbed the ball over the onrushing Leon Pohls, securing a point for his side and winning the Player of the Match award in the process.
In the first meeting of the season in April, Alex Nolan's first goal for St Patrick's Athletic proved a welcome winner to deliver a first victory over Shamrock Rovers in two years at a raucous Richmond Park.
The Saints had to come from behind to do so against the champions, whom they had not beaten in their previous eight encounters.
St Pat's had been second best in a first half that saw Rovers troop off reasonable value for Darragh Nugent's early lead goal.
But they stormed back into the game in the second half, scoring twice inside as many minutes. Captain Joe Redmond headed them level before Nolan's winner, which moved St Pat's up to third place in the table.
KENNY: "We're going to need to be at our best"
Manager Stephen Kenny has been looking ahead to a big few days with two Dublin derbies in the space of just four days:
"The players have been in terrific form of late. The six European games were of really good quality, the performance levels were very high. We've managed to translate that into our league form, taking 13 points from a possible 15.
We'll get a real tough test from Shamrock Rovers, who are in a good run of form themselves and are obviously a formidable team in their own stadium, so we're looking forward to the game.
The support has been terrific behind the players, they've really been getting behind the team. Hopefully we can put in a good performance.
I think for a team that was struggling to score goals, we've now got goals coming from different areas. We're going to need that threat and we're going to need to be at our best"
GRIVOSTI: "We've got three brilliant games to look forward to, it doesn't get much bigger"
Tom Grivosti has been an ever-present in Stephen Kenny's defence since his return from injury. He looked ahead to Friday's big clash:
"Preparations have been good, we're really looking forward to the two games (against Shamrock Rovers and Shelbourne).
They're massive games towards the back end of the season and they'll have an effect on where we end up finishing so we know the importance of the two games and we can't wait.
If we can get the results that we're hoping for, it can give us a big boost with ending the season on a high.
With the massive away support that we bring, when you get a win at these away grounds, it's a brilliant feeling. Hopefully we can do that and carry on our momentum.
It'll obviously be a tough game, we know they're a top side and we're obviously in good form. We've beaten them twice this season so we have the confidence that we can beat them and we've just got to go and do that now on Friday."
TEAM NEWS
Romal Palmer (knee) and Cian Kavanagh (back) will miss the game through injury.
TICKETS / TV / UPDATES
Away tickets are sold out, but the game will be live on LOITV for those you won't be in attendance.
As always, updates can be found on the Official St Pat's FC App - available now on both the App Store and Play Store.
Updates will also be available across all the club's social media channels and WhatsApp.
