General
- Friday September 9th, 2016 @ 16:45
Irish Daily Mail FAI Cup Team News: St Pat's Vs Cobh Ramblers (4pm, Saturday)
St Patrick's Athletic host Cobh Ramblers in Richmond Park in the Quarter-Finals of the Irish Daily Mail FAI Cup on Saturday as the Inchicore side look to advance to the last four of the competition (kick-off 4pm).
Following victories over Pike Rovers and Limerick to date in the competition, the Saints will be hoping for a third consecutive win over Munster opposition when they face Stephen Henderson's Cobh side.
In team news, Pat's remain without the services of David Cawley (Collarbone), while Darren Dennehy (ankle) and Shane McEleney (illness) and Conor O'Malley (thigh strain) are all doubts. The Saints however are boosted by Sean Hoare's return from Republic of Ireland U21 duty as well as Jack Bayly's return to training.
"Cobh will be coming up to Richmond on Saturday looking for a result, and with Stephen Henderson in charge of them, we know they will be well prepared," Saints' manager Liam Buckley told stpatsfc.com when looking ahead to the game.
"The FAI Cup is all about performing on the day, so form goes out the window. It's a big game for us and we'll be doing everything to progress to the next round of the competition."
For Saints' defender Michael Barker, the game presents itself an opportunity to reach the Semi-Finals of the Irish Daily Mail FAI Cup for a second year in a row, the 23 year old having been a part of a Bray Wanderers squad who were narrowly beaten by Cork City last year.
"Last year was a disappointing one personally as all of us on that Bray team thought we could get to the final. We were underdogs heading into the game but on the day, it was anyone's game and we could have got the win if we'd got a bit of luck. It's experiences like that though that drive you on the next year in the Cup." Barker told stpatsfc.com
"Cobh are being talked about as underdogs this Saturday, but we know they are a good side and will fancy themselves to pull off an FAI Cup giant-killing win. From our point of view though, we're approaching the game like we would any other. We'll be going to play our game and hopefully that will lead to a win. If we play to the levels we know we're capable of, we feel we can beat anyone on our day and if we do that, fingers crossed that gets us into the next round."
