General
- Monday October 14th, 2024 @ 9:59
Match Preview: Bohemians V Saints (14/10/2024)
The Saints return to action this evening with an away trip to face old rivals Bohemians in a third away Dublin derby in a row.
Kick-off at Dalymount Park is at 7.45pm, with our away allocation of 450 tickets totally sold out, with another excellent atmosphere expected in The Mono Stand as Pat's look to make it six league wins in a row.
The Saints come into this game off the back of five League wins on the spin, as well as clinching their 10th Leinster Senior Cup last Tuesday, beating St Mochta's 2-1 in the final at Richmond Park thanks to goals from Michael Noonan and Kian Leavy.
The last league action was two weeks ago on September 30th, with a 3-2 away win against table-topping Shelbourne at Tolka Park.
Joe Redmond and Brandon Kavanagh gave the Saints a two-goal cushion heading into the final quarter-hour before Rayhaan Tulloch and Matty Smith got Shels back in the game with two crackers.
Saints Super sub Al-Amin Kazeem grabbed a dramatic last minute winner with his first touch to seal another big three points.
The Saints now sit in 5th place in the Premier Division, with 47 points from 32 games.
A win tonight would see them up to 4th and four points off the top with three matches to play.
They come into this evening four points behind 3rd placed Derry and five off Shamrock Rovers in 2nd.
OPPOSITION WATCH
This Friday will see Pat's and Bohs meet in the League of Ireland for the 194th time.
The Saints have been victorious in 74 of those, with Bohs winning 63 and the other 56 ending all square.
St Pat's have won 6 of the last 11 meetings in all competitions, with fans having happy memories of the 2021 and 2023 FAI Cup final.
The Gypsies are in 8th place, with 37 points from their 32 games.
Their last outing was a 1-1 away draw against Derry City on Friday. Archie Meekison scored after twenty minutes before Pat Hoban equalised in the second- half.
Bohs' last home game was an FAI Cup semi-final defeat to Derry.
Out of the five meetings between these teams last season, none will be as memorable for those from Inchicore as the 2023 Sports Direct FAI Cup Final in November.
The Final - which saw a record-breaking attendance at The Aviva Stadium - was a special one for The Saints, as they lifted the FAI Cup for the fifth time in the club's history, after a 3-1 win.
Having gone 1-0 down in the 9th minute through a Johnny Afolabi penalty, Pat's kept their cool.
Mark Doyle nodded home a Jake Mulraney cross from a free kick out wide in the 33rd minute to level things up as the sides went in level at half-time.
The Saints scored their second just minutes into the second half, with another Mulraney cross forcing defender Krystian Nowak to put the ball in the back of his own net. Joe Redmond had put pressure on Nowak at the back post, forcing the error from his counterpart.
A defensive mistake was taken advantage of by Tommy Lonergan, who made it 3-1 and all but ended the tie heading into the final minutes before Redmond lifted the famous trophy.
The last league game between these two was a 0-0 draw on June 28th in Richmond Park.
The previous match between the teams at Dalymount was on May 24th with the sides playing out a 2-2 draw.
Chris Forrester scored a penalty to put his side 1-0 up, before a James Akintunde equaliser. On the stroke of half-time, Cian Kavanagh helped the Saints regain the lead. In the dying embers of the second half, Danny Grant scored to earn his side a point.
The other meeting of 2024 was on just the second night of the season on February 23rd. A late Jordan Flores penalty saw Bohs'go back to Dalymount with the three points.
These teams also met four times in the Premier Division in 2023. Pat's won two (both at Dalymount), drew one and lost one of their encounters against The Gypsies.
KENNY: "We want to maintain our rhythm, keep winning games and finish the season strongly"
Manager Stephen Kenny has been looking ahead to another Dublin derby, as his side look to continue their excellent form:
"We're looking forward to the game. We had two games with Shamrock Rovers away and Shelbourne away and then a two week break in the lead up to Bohemians.
Bohemians got beaten narrowly in the FAI Cup semi final by Derry, but that doesn't mean that they don't have a lot of good players and that they won't be tough opposition for us. We'll have to be at our best.
We want to keep our rhythm and try and keep winning games. Bohemians will be desperate for points. We'll get nothing easy, we'll have to earn everything."
ANANG: "You can see the confidence boost"
Goalkeeper and summer signing Joseph Anang has been in fine form since returning to the club, and wants to keep it going:
"It feels great to have five wins in a row. We've got to keep going. The main turning point was the game against Vaduz at home. Since then, we've lost just one game, so that shows the importance of the games in Europe.
You can see the confidence boost we got from playing in Europe and we transferred that into the league.
I'm really enjoying (being back at St Pat's). I was here two years ago and playing week in, week out, it's been very good so far.
We all know how difficult it is going to play against Bohs. With it being a Dublin derby, it won't be easy but we want to go there and get the maximum points."
TEAM NEWS
Romal Palmer and Cian Kavanagh return to the squad after injury, but Alex Nolan (hip) and Jamie Lennon (suspended) miss out.
TICKETS / TV / UPDATES
Away tickets are totally sold out.
The game will be live on LOITV.
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.
