• 

  General

• Tuesday February 19th, 2008 @ 17:47

PRE-SEASON UPDATE

The Saints pre-season programme continues this week with two friendlies scheduled in two different countries.

Dynamo Kiev are the opposition in Spain on Wednesday at the the MPF Grounds in San Pedro, Marbella. Kick-Off is 4 p.m. local time.

Friday sees the first home game since Wisla Krakow visited Inchicore in November. Shelbourne are the visitors to Richmond Park on this occassion and kick-off is 7.45 p.m.

The first-team squad are currently in a training camp in Spain and manager John McDonnell took time out from his busy schedule to speak to stpatsfc.com about the teams preparation for the new season.

"We're putting a bit of a shape on the team on the moment and the training out here has been excellent.

"We have two games this week and we're looking forward to them. I'm sure the fans will be looking forward to seeing the new players on Friday and it will be a good test for us against Shels as Dermot (Keeley) has put together a good panel of players there."

John also had good news on the injury front as both Dessie Byrne and John Frost should both be back in contention for Friday's game.

"Dessie has had a problem with his back and John Frost was injured in the Wisla game. Its been of great benefit to them having intense daily treatment while we are away. John got through the two training sessions today and we would hope to have both players available for Friday.

"We are training twice a day in Spain and also having a gym session in the evening. Different players are on different programmes because some of the new signings are at different fitness stages due to them being in mid-season when they signed. We're also incorporating injury prevention training into our programmes and that seems to be paying off as we have no serious injury worries for the new season."

Admission to Friday's game against Shelbourne is €10 for adults and €5 for concessions.