19.45 12 Jun 2015 -
Referee:
League Preview: St. Patrick's Athletic -v- Limerick
- Gareth O'Reilly
- Thu, Jun 11 2015
St Patrick’s Athletic welcome Martin Russell and his Limerick FC squad to Richmond Park on Friday night for the last SSE Airtricity League game day before the mid-season break.
ST PATRICK’S ATHLETIC
Liam Buckley and his Pats players will be in confident mood heading into this home clash, having as recently as Tuesday, managed an important victory on the hollow Inchicore turf. That night it was Bohs who fell, and now the Saints faithful will be hoping for more of the same when Limerick arrive in Dublin on Friday evening.
Defender Kenny Browne has been an ever present member of Buckley’s back four and he believes it is vital that the Saints keep up the good form heading into the break.
“Yeah it was another good win and was important as it put us ahead of Bohs on goal difference. We’ve won three on the bounce now and we’re just looking to keep the run going. We know if we can make it four in a row on Friday against Limerick, it’ll set us up nicely going into the break. After that, we’ll just be looking up the league standings and try to make more progress.”
Conan Byrne will continue to miss out due to his hamstring injury but other than that Liam Buckley has a full squad to choose from as he outlines to the club’s official website.
“I was happy with the win against Bohs on Tuesday so now the challenge is to continue on from that and look to improve for Limerick on Friday,” Saints’ manager Liam Buckley told stpatsfc.com. “We still have a few things to work on. I thought we could have scored one or two more, and defensively we’ve a few things to iron out, but overall we were delighted with the lads.”
Pats came out two, one winners the last time these sides met. That game was in Jackman Park in front of just 425 people but Buckley is well aware that Limerick, despite still being winless, are going to be no push over.
“We played Limerick down in Jackman Park back in April and it was a tough game for us. We did well to go two up and then they pegged us back and could have got something from it so we know that Limerick will here and believe they can get a result. Martin has them playing his style of play now too so it’ll make for a really good game of football for neutrals to come down and watch.”
To coincide with the Republic of Ireland taking on Scotland in the Aviva Stadium on Saturday evening, the St Pats marketing team have come up with a unique initiative to get people through the gates on Friday. For one night only anyone wearing a kilt will gain free access to Richmond Park as the Saints roll out “Free Kilt Friday”.
LIMERICK
Limerick have not won a league game since October 17th when they managed to carve out a one nil win over Sligo Rovers in their last game in Thomond Park, since then they have tried and failed on sixteen occasions in their quest for those precious three points.
“We’ll hopefully go there with a game-plan that gives us every chance of winning. It’s a tight league and a competitive league. Hopefully, we can go there and come away with something.
“The whole thing about last week gives you a taste of what could be on a more regular basis. As I said last week, it was a new dawn in terms of giving people an insight into the way the club should be going,” finished the former Pats First Team Coach, Martin Russell.
To make matters even worse you have to go all the way back to October 10th for the Blues last road win, when they defeated Derry City by a one goal margin in the Brandywell.
This Friday Martin Russell must plan without Paudie O’Connor and also Sean McSweeney who are both sitting their Leaving Certificate exams. Meanwhile defender Sean Harding is still out with an ankle injury.
Referee: Alan Mario Sant (Malta).
MATCH FACTS
The Saints have only lost ten home games to Limerick, having played the Blues in Dublin on forty eight occasions.
The biggest home win for Pats against Limerick occurred back in 1967 when the Inchicore side thumped the Blues by eight goals to nil in Richmond Park.
March 2013 was the first time these two sides had met since 1994, a Killian Brennan penalty secured the first win for the Saints over Limerick since a Johnny McDonnell goal had seen the Dublin side emerge victorious back in January of 1994.
BETTING
St Patrick’s Athletic 1/5; Draw 5/1; Limerick 14/1.
PREDICTION
St Patrick’s Athletic 3-0 Limerick.
St Patrick’s Athletic
Injured: Conan Byrne (hamstring).
Doubtful: None.
Suspended: None.
Limerick
Injured: Sean Harding (ankle).
Doubtful: None.
Suspended: None.
Unavailable: Paudie O’Connor, Sean McSweeney (Both Leaving Cert)
About Gareth O'Reilly
Gareth is the Editor of Extratime.ie. Gareth began as a normal reporter covering games all over Dublin before being asked to help out with behind the scene activities and eventually moving into the role of …