General
- Thursday May 18th, 2023 @ 12:55
Preview: Shelbourne Vs St Pat's (18/05/23)
It's Dublin Derby time again for St Patrick's Athletic on Friday night as they travel to face Shelbourne at Tolka Park.
Kick-off is at 7.45pm, away tickets are totally sold out and the match will also be live on Virgin Media 2 with Bernard O'Toole and former St Patrick's Athletic winger and Ireland international Keith Treacy in the commentary box.
It's been a busy two weeks for The Saints, they followed wins away to Cork City (3-2) and home to Drogheda United (3-0) with an agonising 3-2 defeat away to Shamrock Rovers on Monday.
Over 6,200 supporters, including 1,200 St Pat's fans in a sold out away end, watched the match at Tallaght Stadium.
Pat's took the lead through a deflected Mark Doyle shot before Rovers levelled things up on the stroke of half-time through a Lee Grace header.
Richie Towell then put Stephen Bradley's men in front before sub Ben McCormack got The Saints back on level terms, but The Hoops won it thanks to a Towell penalty in the 89th minute.
Shelbourne's last outing was a 3-0 victory at Sligo Rovers last Saturday, Jack Moylan got a hat-trick at The Showgrounds to help The Reds to the three points.
Head To Head
These famous Dublin clubs have faced off five times in the league since Shelbourne's return to the Premier Division at the start of last season.
Those meetings have seen three wins for The Saints, a draw and a defeat, with 19 goals scored, 13 of them by St Pat's.
- February 2022 - Shels 0-3 St Pat's (Darragh Burns, Mark Doyle, Jay McClelland)
- May 2022 - St Pat's 1-2 Shels (Joe Redmond)
- October 2022 - Shels 4-4 St Pat's (Barry Cotter, Eoin Doyle (2), OG)
- November 2022 - St Pat's 4-0 Shels (Eoin Doyle (2), Anto Breslin, Ben McCormack)
- February 2023 - St Pat's 1-0 Shels (Eoin Doyle)
Their only clash this season was a 1-0 victory for St Pat's in the second game of the campaign, Eoin Doyle got a late winner at a sold our Richmond Park.
The last time these teams met at Tolka Park was in October of last year, the game of the season ended 4-4!
St Pat's have won 53 of the 143 league meetings between the teams, with Shels coming out on top 55 times, the other 32 have been draws.
There will be some familiar faces in the opposition ranks tomorrow, Paddy Barrett, Matty Smith and Shane Griffin were part of the St Pat's 2021 FAI Cup winning squad, Barrett and Smith played in the final victory against Bohemians with Griffin among the substitutes.
Conor Kane, Kian Leavy and Kyle Robinson also used for fly their trade in Inchicore.
"We're looking forward to it - Daly:
Jon Daly suffered his first defeat as Interim Manager on Monday, having beaten Cork City and Drogheda United in his first two matches, he's hoping to return to winning ways tomorrow night:
"It's another big game for us and an opportunity to get back to winning ways. The lads recovered well on Tuesday and we began our preparations for Shelbourne on Wednesday morning, the lads trained well today and yesterday and we're ready to go.
We beat Shelbourne 1-0 earlier in the season in a tight game and I think tomorrow could be a similar type of game. Shelbourne haven't conceded many goals, ten in total, six of those from set plays, one of them against us.
It's important that we are secure at the back and that if we get opportunities we take them.
Shelbourne have got some good players, they are a good side who work hard for each other, and have some good patterns in their play and they are a threat going forward with the likes of Moylan and Smith and Caffrey so we'll have to take care of that side of things first before we focus on the rest."
Jamie Lennon made his 150th appearance for the club on Monday night, he's been a top player for St Pat's since his league debut in February 2018 and is known as "one of our own" among the St Patrick's Athletic fans.
In the current squad, only Chris Forrester has played more times for St Pat's.
Following Ian Bermingham's retirement at the end of last season, former Ireland U21 international Lennon becomes the longest serving player at the club in a continuous spell.
Lennon spoke to Jamie Moore on Wednesday and is very proud of the milestone:
"It's a massive achievement and a good milestone for myself, I didn't actually know until you told me today so I'm delighted. I've been at the club for a long time (having joined our U19s from Shelbourne in 2017), I've only just turned 25 so I'm not finished yet and I still have a lot of years left! I've become on the senior professionals in the group over the last couple of years as we have quite a young squad, but it's something I enjoy."
Jamie joined our U19s in January 2016 from Shelbourne and spent two seasons in The Saints Academy before progressing to the senior squad under Liam Buckley.
He made his first team debut in August 2017 in a Leinster Senior Cup game against Firhouse Clover at Richmond Park, scoring his first and only senior goal for the club that day, a cracker from outside the box, Lenny netted his first league goal for St Pat's in the 4-0 win against Cork City earlier this season.
"I haven't played against Shelbourne much in my career, but obviously we've played them five times since they got promoted last year. We had a good game last year with the 4-4 and we've had a couple of good victories too with a 3-0 and a 4-0 last season.
We had a tight 1-0 win against them in the second game this season so it will be a tough, competitive game, they are organised, fit, energetic and have good players but it's one that we are looking forward to."
Team News:
Captain Joe Redmond (hamstring) is the only absentee
Image credit: Sportsfile
Be sure to visit the St Pat's store and check out our Umbro League of Ireland merchandise.
