League Preview: St Patrick's Athletic -v- Dundalk

ST PATRICK'S ATHLETIC

St Patrick's Athletic go in search of just their second win in ten games when they welcome the champions Dundalk to Richmond Park on Friday night (kick-off 7.45pm).

Liam Buckley has seen his slide slip to joint-bottom in the table and the Saints sit outside the relegation zone ahead of Galway United only by virtue of goals scored.

A point at home to Sligo Rovers on Friday night was followed up by a disastrous 3-1 defeat away to bottom-placed Finn Harps after conceding three first-half goals.

Christy Fagan netted in the second half for the Saints, his second goal in two games as he looks to be coming into form after injury struggles, but the Inchicore side fell woefully short.

Pats were comfortably defeated 3-0 by the Lilywhites the last time they met in March and Buckley is under no illusion about the scale of the task facing his struggling side.

“The lads are really motivated to get a result on Friday as we just didn’t perform in the first 45 minutes against Finn Harps,” he told the club's official website.

“When you lose a game, the natural feeling is to want to put it right straight away so the game coming around quickly for us is good in some ways.

“Dundalk defeated us earlier in the season in Oriel Park, but we were competitive against them for large parts so we have to go into the game looking to repeat large parts of that and improve further.

“We’ve improved in our recent home fixtures so we know we need to continue on that for the rest of the season.”

Buckley will be without Darren Dennehy, who has missed the bulk of the season with an ankle injury, but has an otherwise full deck to choose from.

DUNDALK FC

Dundalk's season reached a nadir with the back-to-back defeats to Galway United and Shamrock Rovers earlier this month, results that saw the Lilywhites fall back to third.

Stephen Kenny has somewhat steadied the ship in the past couple of weeks, however, with thumping wins over Sligo Rovers (4-0) and Limerick (3-0) in the league.

They faced a tough task at home to Kenny Shiels' similarly resurgent Derry City on Tuesday and, predictably, the two evenly-matched sides played out a scoreless draw.

The result leaves Dundalk two points clear of third-placed Bray Wanderers but a seemingly insurmountable 15 points off runaway league leaders Cork City.

“It was disappointing not to win on Tuesday night,” goalkeeper Gary Rogers told the club's official website.

“I felt we had chances to go and win the game but having said that we didn’t create anything clear cut on the night which frustrated us.

“Playing at home we want to pick up as maximum points every week and we didn’t do that on Tuesday.

“We were disappointed not to win after taking the game to Derry. We have been good at home this year, we have won almost all at home so that is disappointing.

“It’s important that we pick up a win on Friday night. We beat St. Patrick’s Athletic earlier in the season at Oriel but it’s going to be a difficult game up in Richmond on Friday.

“We have to go to Inchicore and get an important win. We have improved over the last few weeks, you can see that, and we have to pick things up again tomorrow and get back to winning.”

Brian Gartland, Shane Grimes and John Mountney remain on the sidelines but Everton loanee Steven Kinsella has recovered from a hamstring strain to face his former club.

Referee: Sean Grant

MATCH STATS

The last meeting between the sides took place at Oriel Park in March as a quickfire brace from Patrick McEleney and another from Ciaran Kilduff secured an easy win for Dundalk.

The sides met four times last season in all competitions with both sides winning two of the encounters.

Dundalk had the edge in the league, winning 4-0 at Richmond Park in March and 2-0 at Oriel in June.

Pats won 5-2 in Inchicore in October after the Lilywhites had sealed the title two days earlier against Bohemians, and they won 1-0 after extra time in the EA Sports Cup en route to lifting the trophy.

BETTING

St Patrick's Athletic 9/2; Draw 14/5; Dundalk 8/13.

PREDICTION

St Patrick's Athletic 1 – 3 Dundalk

St Patrick's Athletic

Injured: Darren Dennehy.

Doubtful: None.

Suspended: None.

Dundalk

Injured: Brian Gartland (hamstring), Shane Grimes (muscle), John Mountney (groin).

Doubtful: None.

Suspended: None