• General

  • Thursday May 25th, 2023 @ 14:20

Preview: St Pat's Vs Dundalk (26/05/23)

Jon Daly will take charge of St Patrick's Athletic for the first time tomorrow night since being appointed Manager earlier this week.

Having been in interim charge for the previous four matches, overseeing three wins, Daly was named Manager on Monday afternoon.

Those wins against Cork City, Drogheda United and most recently Shelbourne last Friday, have helped to club to 4th in the Premier Division table.

17-year-old Sam Curtis scored his first senior goal in the 1-0 victory at Tolka Park as The Saints moved level on points with tomorrow's opponents.

The Inchicore men are 4th, three points behind third placed Bohemians and eight off top spot and Derry City.

Home tickets will this game will sell out, the Main Stand is already sold out with less than 100 tickets left for The Patron Stand and very limited availability in The Camac Terrace, all St Patrick's Athletic fans are advised to get their tickets online HERE

The match will also be live on LOITV, ex St Pat's and Dundalk defender Colin Hawkins will join Oisin Langan in the commentary box.



Head To Head

St Patrick's Athletic and Dundalk FC are set to meet for the second time this season and things couldn't be tighter between the teams in the table.

The teams come into the match level on 26 points from their 17 matches so far, both teams have a goal difference of +2, Pat's have scored 27 goals and conceded 25 while The Lilywhites have scored 24 and let in 22.

Stephen O'Donnell's side drew 2-2 with Bohemians last time out, a Patrick Hoban header and a James Talbot OG had them 2-0 up at half-time at Oriel Park, but Bohs secured a point thanks to goals from Declan McDaid and Kristin Nowak in the final 12 minutes.

These sides have met once already this season with Dundalk winning 5-0 at Oriel Park in March.

St Pat's fans will have fonder memories of recent home matches against Dundalk, most notably the 2021 FAI Cup semi-final when goals from Billy King, Matty Smith and Darragh Burns helped seal their path to the final with a 3-1 win, The Super Saints of course went on to lift the trophy, beating Bohemians on penalties at The Aviva.

Current Dundalk midfielder Robbie Benson scored the winner from the penalty spot that day, while Alfie Lewis and John Mountney are also former St Pat's FAI Cup winners now plying their trade at Oriel Park, John Martin won the U17 League of Ireland title with St Pat's back in 2016.



"It's an honour - Daly:

Following a comprehensive recruitment and interview process with a number of candidates, Jon Daly as appointed First Team Manager on Monday.

After an almost 20 year playing career in England and Scotland, Jon moved into coaching in 2015.

His first coaching role was as Manager of Hearts U20s, Jon has also been Hearts interim first team Manager on two occasions in 2016 and 2017.

In November 2020, Daly (40), who holds a UEFA Pro Licence, joined TPS Turku as assistant manager to former Rangers striker Jonatan Johansson.

He also became manager of the U23 team, Daly departed the role in December 2021 to join St Pat's ahead of the 2022 season.



Daly said:

"It's a fantastic feeling to be the St Patrick's Athletic Manager and to be trusted to step in on a full time basis to take the club forward, I'm obviously very honoured and humbled by that decision and I'm looking forward to the weeks, months and years ahead.

We've been happy with our performances over the last four games and have picked up three important wins.

The attitude of the players has been excellent and we'll be looking to keep that going, starting on Friday against Dundalk in front of another big crowd at Richmond Park.

Our supporters have been fantastic, as they showed again at Tolka Park on Friday, it makes a huge difference to the players on the pitch and we are looking forward to being back at home in Inchicore on Friday."


You can watch Jon's full interview on our YouTube channel.



Tom Grivosti returned to action earlier this month after eight weeks out with a hamstring injury.

The 23-year-old centre back has been chatting to Jamie Moore about his return, being back in front of the Saints fans, Jon Daly's appointment as Manager & Friday's match at home to Dundalk, you can watch that full interview on our Youtube channel.

"We're really looking forward to the game, we're on a decent little run now so hopefully we can keep that going.

The lads were buzzing when Jon announced to us all that he got the job on a full-time basis, we all hoped he got the job and thankfully he did, we just need to try to carry on the form that we've been on and take it into the rest of the season.

It's been good to be back out on the pitch for the last couple of games after the injury, it was tough being out, and the recovery dragged on and little bit so I was made up to be back for the recent games.

We want to try to keep our run going against Dundalk, we've got four games until the mid-season break, including tomorrow, and we've got to try to pick up as many points as we can."




Team News:

Captain Joe Redmond (hamstring) is still sidelined while Mason Melia is away on international duty with the Ireland U17s ahead of their European Championship 1/4 final against Spain on Saturday, Mason, and fellow Saint Luke Kehir, scored twice each in there final group game against Hungary, Ireland won 4-2.

Image credit: Sportsfile

Be sure to visit the St Pat's store and check out our Umbro League of Ireland merchandise.

Next Fixture

Minnesota United / March 20th @ 12:00am
Competition: Friendly
Venue: Allianz Field, Saint Paul
 
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St Patrick's Athletic66
Drogheda United54
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St Patrick's Athletic FC

Founded in 1929 the 'Saints' are the current FAI Cup holders and play in the Premier Division of the SSE Airtricity League at Richmond Park, in Inchicore Dublin 8, Ireland.

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125 Emmet Road, Inchicore, Dublin 8, D08 E0Y7, Ireland

(+353) 1 454 6332
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