General
- Thursday April 18th, 2024 @ 14:10
Preview: Saints Vs Waterford FC (19/04/24)
St Patrick's Athletic will be looking to make it three home wins in a row when they host Waterford FC at Richmond Park on Friday night, as they embark on three games in seven days.
The Saints head into a busy few weeks on a four match unbeaten run, with two wins and two draws since the international break.
Last time out was a scoreless draw in Dundalk last Friday.
St Pat's had the better of the chances at Oriel Park, with Jamie Lennon playing through Mason Melia on 56 minutes with a delicious pass, Dundalk 'keeper George Shelvey made an excellent save to deny the 16-year-old.
Conor Keeley had gone close with a first-half header while Jake Mulraney nearly earned his side the three points, hitting the outside of the post from an acute angle deep into stoppage time.
Jon Daly's men are looking forward to being back home in Inchicore, have won back-to-back home matches earlier this month against Sligo Rovers (3-0) and then Shamrock Rovers (2-1).
Their last outing in Inchicore saw them beat rivals Shamrock Rovers on an electric night in Dublin 8.
The Hoops struck first in the hotly contested Dublin derby, with Darragh Nugent putting his side 1-0 up after four minutes of play.
However, The Saints struck twice in just three minutes to take all three points at home. Joe Redmond equalised before Alex Nolan got the winner, with Brandon Kavanagh assisting both.
Pat's currently sit in 5th position in the Premier Division table, with 14 points from their opening 10 Premier Division games, leaving them just two points off second-placed Derry City, who they face on Monday evening.
OPPOSITION WATCH:
Waterford FC have made a solid start to live back in the Premier Division, Keith Long's side are 7th in the Premier Division, with 12 points from their 10 games.
Their last outing was a scoreless draw at the RSC against Galway United last Friday.
Former Saints Academy man Ryan Burke was sent off in the 89th minute, meaning he'll miss out on a return to Richmond Park, but another ex St Pat's player, Ben McCormack, could face his former side tomorrow night.
The previous meeting of St Pat's and Waterford was last early month with The Blues coming out on top (3-1) at the RSC.
A Padraig Amond double and a Maleace Asamoah strike were enough to give last season's play-off winners all three points at home, Anto Breslin got the Pat's goal.
These teams last faced each other in the league at Richmond Park in August 2021 with St Pat's winning 2-1 thanks to goals from Nahum Melvin-Lambert and Matty Smith.
DALY: "Richmond Park is a special place to be on a Friday night."
Manager Jon Daly sees his side just two points off second spot and with matches to come against 2nd placed Derry City on Monday and leaders Shelbourne next Friday, he's hopeful his team can continue their good form and push up the table:
"Our home form in recent weeks has been good so we need to try and continue to build on that and give the crowd something to get behind.
The crowd is always loud and always at it, so it's great for the players to hear that and have that support. We won back to back home games the last time we were at Richmond and we'll be hoping to continue that with a good performance and the three points.
It's important we go into the game full of energy and to be mindful that they have some very good players.
We've said it numerous times before about being ruthless when our chances come and that we're calm in the final third"
Watch Jon's extended interview on our Youtube channel.
KAVANAGH: "I've loved every minute of it"
Brandon Kavanagh leads to way for assists in the LOI Premier Division with 5 assists in 10 appearances so far this season.
The 23-year-old sat down with Jamie Moore to discuss his first few months as a Saint and a busy period of games, beginning with the visit of Waterford to Richmond Park on Friday night.
You can also watch that full chat on YouTube.
"We're really looking forward to the game. We've come back from our mid-season break in America and we've done well, winning two and drawing two since then.
We've been on the wrong .side of a few games before the break but we've been playing well, especially over the last couple of week and we want to keep that going
We need to focus on ourselves and the game in front of us and keep doing what we're doing and hopefully we'll keep pushing up the table.
I've loved every minute of it at Pat's so far, Richmond and the atmosphere there was the best I've seen it against Shamrock Rovers, we want to have it buzzing again on Friday.
Once the team is playing well, the results will come, we're only ten games in and I think we're in a really good headspace coming into a busy period."
TEAM NEWS
Jon Daly expects to have an almost fully fit squad to choose from tomorrow night.
Axel Sjoberg will miss out as will Tom Grivosti, Daly confirmed the Liverpudlian is back training and could feature for the U20s in the coming weeks as he continues his progress.
Ryan McLaughlin and Kieran Freeman are also "not too far away" from full fitness.
TICKETS / TV / UPDATES
With the Main Stand and Patron Stand sold out, a limited number of home tickets remain available HERE while game will be live on LOITV in the company of Oisin Langan and Keith Treacy.
As always, updates and our Watch Party 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.
Photo credit: Inpho Sports
