• General

  • Wednesday December 16th, 2015 @ 10:43

LOI 17 Final Preview: Saints Vs Rovers

St Patrick's Athletic under 17's face Shamrock Rovers tonight in their re-fixture of the SSE Airtricity National U17 League Final in Tallaght Stadium (kick-off 7.30pm).

After last Saturday's postponement due to a waterlogged pitch in Tallaght Stadium, the Saints and the Hoops are set to battle it out for silverware.

The Saints' season has been an impressive one regardless of tonight's result, with the side having progressed to the knockout stages having finished second in Section 2 of the Elite Groups; Pat's winning eight, drawing once and losing three of their games.

As Saints' U17 manager Jamie Moore reflected, both sides have proven to be the best of the season and tonight's game is expected to be another close match.

"Ourselves and Rovers have been two of the best teams in the U17 league this season, so hopefully the game lives up to what it can be. We've played Rovers twice this season and lost both games, we feel we maybe could have got something from both games and will do our best to do so in this one," Moore told stpatsfc.com.

"The aim of this league and certainly our aim at Pats is to develop some of the best young players in Dublin and in the country, and I think we've helped the lads in the few months we've had them, and had lots of fun on the way. The staff and the players all come and go from training with a smile on our faces so that's good, but when we go on the pitch, we've generally done our stuff so there's been a good balance as its important to balance the football work and learning with enjoyment too."



On tonight's game, the Saints' manager declared he had a full squad to select from with several places in the Saints starting eleven up for grabs.

"We are all really looking forward and excited about the game. We said in our first meeting back in the summer that we wanted to be involved in the final weekend of the season so it's great that the boys have done so well to get us into the first U17 final, their performances over the season are deserving of a place in the final," Moore commented.

"Everyone is fighting fit for the game and they've all trained really well over the last week as you would expect. The main satisfaction for me as the manager is to see the lads learning, enjoying themselves and playing some excellent passing football. The staff, who have been top class, and I are really happy with where we are as a group after this short season."



"We operate on the same principals that Liam Buckley adopts with the first team and that they use with the U19's and things have gone very well so far. We have scored 51 goals in our 14 games to date, so hopefully we can grab a couple more tonight."

SSE Airtricity National U17 League Final
St Patrick's Athletic vs Shamrock Rovers
Tallaght Stadium
Kick-Off 7.30pm

LIVE updates from the game will be available from the St Patrick's Athletic FC Official Twitter account, @stpatsfc

Next Fixture

Drogheda United / March 29th @ 7:45pm
Competition: League
Venue: Weavers Park
 
Team Pld Pts
Shelbourne616
Derry City611
Sligo Rovers69
Waterford FC68
Galway United FC67
Bohemian FC57
Shamrock Rovers56
St Patrick's Athletic66
Drogheda United54
Dundalk52

St Patrick's Athletic FC

Founded in 1929 the 'Saints' are the current FAI Cup holders and play in the Premier Division of the SSE Airtricity League at Richmond Park, in Inchicore Dublin 8, Ireland.

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125 Emmet Road, Inchicore, Dublin 8, D08 E0Y7, Ireland

(+353) 1 454 6332
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