General
- Saturday August 12th, 2017 @ 22:21
FAI Cup Team News
St Patrick's Athletic get their 2017 Irish Daily Mail FAI Cup campaign undeway tomorrow afternoon when they travel to face non-league Portmarnock (kick-off 2pm).
The Saints will be hoping to have another strong run in the competition having reached the Semi-Finals last year only to be defeated by eventual winners Cork City, while the Inchicore side have also featured in two finals in the last five years.
Heading into the game, St Pat's are boosted by the return of Graham Kelly who missed the Saints' last league game against Sligo Rovers through suspension, however they remain without defensive duo Darren Dennehy and Gavin Peers through injury.
Speaking to www.stpatsfc.com ahead of Sunday's cup tie, Pat's boss Liam Buckley admitted that the FAI Cup was a competition he was relishing due to the Saints' form in recent years in the tournament.
"The FAI Cup has been a competition we have done well in in my time at the club and this year we again hope to go as far as possible. To do that though, we need to get through this tie so we will be looking no further ahead than Portmarnock on Sunday.
"The players have trained well this week off the back of a good result last week against Sligo Rovers. We know last week could have been different had we been a little bit more clinical in front of goal, so that is something for us to hopefully improve on heading into this game."
Kick-off on Sunday is in Paddy’s Hill at 2pm.