General
- Thursday April 20th, 2023 @ 14:00
Preview: St Pat's Vs Shamrock Rovers (21/04/23)
Over 5,000 fans will be at a sold out Richmond Park tomorrow night to watch St Patrick's Athletic against Shamrock Rovers in the League of Ireland.
If you don't have a golden ticket for the game, you can watch live on LOITV, former St Pat's, Shamrock Rovers, Bohemians and Shelbourne defender Colin Hawkins will join Oisin Langan in the commentary box with coverage beginning just before 7.30.
The Saints come into the weekend in second place, having won their last four matches, Rovers are fourth, two points behind tomorrow's opposition.
Tim Clancy's side won 3-2 at Dalymount Park last Friday, Chris Forrester, Jason McClelland and Mark Doyle were on target in a thrilling game against leaders Bohemians, that win moved St Pat's to within four points of top spot after ten matches.
Shamrock Rovers came from 2-0 down to draw 2-2 at home against Shelbourne with Graham Burke and Roberto Lopes getting the goals for Stephen Bradley's side.
Head To Head
These sides drew 2-2 in Tallaght a month ago, an Eoin Doyle penalty and a Jake Mulraney cracker helped secure a point for St Pat's and they've gone on to win four games on the bounce since.
The Hoops have been in good form themselves since then, before their draw on Friday, they had won their previous three matches.
This will be the 186th meeting of these teams in the league, Shamrock Rovers have the better head to head, having won 76 of the meetings, Pat's have won 61 while there have been 49 draws.
Rovers came out in top in three of the four derbies last season, the other was a St Pat's win at Richmond Park thanks to a Chris Forrester header.
"These are the games that everyone wants to be involved in" - Clancy
Manager Tim Clancy spoke to the media at Dublin Fit Club on Wednesday afternoon, you can watch his full interview on our YouTube channel, he's looking forward to another big night:
"After a great win at Dalymount, we're looking forward to being back at home in Inchicore in another Dublin Derby in front of another sell out.
I don't think any home tickets have been available for any of our home games this season and we've had excellent support away from home too, Richmond will be buzzing on Friday.
We've been doing very well in the last few weeks and we know where we are it at the moment, we've got a massive task against arguably the best team in the country tomorrow night, they are in good form themselves too.
We played them a few weeks ago and drew 2-2, both teams were in a completely different place then, we had lost three in a row and they were looking for their first win, since then both teams have picked up a lot of points and the table looks a bit different so we're hoping to keep our run going."
"I feel loved by the club and the St Pat's people" - Forrester
Chris Forrester is set to play his 300th game for St Patrick's Athletic on Friday night.
Forrester has won the league and two FAI Cups across his two spells, scoring 69 goals, including some belters and make lots of European memories along the way.
He sat down with Jamie Moore for this for an in-depth chat about his time at the club so far, his love of and connection with the people and plans for more success.
You can watch that full 15 minute interview on our YouTube channel now or listen in our Talking Saints Podcast stream, Chris also helped us look ahead to the game:
"Everyone has been pulling their weight in the last few weeks and we've been playing well, we know we need to be right at it every week or else we will be turned over and we saw a few weeks ago but we've managed to turn things around, the mood is good at the moment and hopefully we can keep that going.
Shamrock Rovers have won the league the last three years in a row, we understand the type of team that they are and the calibre of players they have, our full focus is on the game, we want to tackle it like every other game this season and hopefully come out on the right side of the result."
Team News:
Danny Rogers (thumb), Tom Grivosti (hamstring), Harry Brockbank (calf) continue to miss out through injury, Captain Joe Redmond (hamstring) will also miss the game as will Tommy Lonergan who is suspended
Image credit: Sportsfile
Be sure to visit the St Pats store and check out our Umbro League of Ireland merchandise.
