General
- Thursday February 22nd, 2024 @ 13:00
Preview: Saints Vs Bohs (23/02/24)
The Saints will be crossing the white line at Richmond Park for the first time in 2024 this Friday evening as they welcome Dublin rivals Bohemians.
Kick-off is at 7.45pm and the game is totally sold out, with over 5,000 fans set to be in Inchicore for the biggest game of the weekend.
The fixture will be shown live on LOITV with Oisin Langan and Keith Treacy in the commentary box.
The Saints began their season with 1-0 away win against Galway United at Eamon Deacy Park, with Jamie Lennon hammering a shot off the crossbar and into the net after just three minutes of play to score the only goal last Friday.
Despite the tough conditions on Corribside, Jon Daly's men battled it out to secure a hard fought three points to kick-start their campaign.
Lennon also scored in the President's Cup game against Shamrock Rovers the previous week, with his tally now at two goals in two games this season.
The former Saints Academy man has been in top form of late, having ended last season with a 2023 Sports Direct FAI Cup medal and as well as named Player of the Match against Bohemians in the final and winning the St Patrick's Athletic / Manguard Plus November Player of the Month.
FAI CUP FINAL REWIND
Nobody will forget the last meeting with Bohemians - which saw a record-breaking attendance at Aviva Stadium as the Saints lifted the FAI Cup for the fifth time in the club's history, beating Bohs 3-1 in the final last November.
Having gone 1-0 down in the ninth minute through a Jonny Afolabi penalty, Pat's kept their cool.
Mark Doyle nodded home a Jake Mulraney cross from a free-kick out wide in the 33rd minute to level things up and both sides went in at half-time level.
The Saints scored their second just minutes into the second-half, with another Mulraney cross forcing defender Krystian Nowak to put the ball in the back of his own net. Joe Redmond had put pressure on Nowak at the back post, forcing the error from his counterpart.
A defensive mistake was taken advantage of by Tommy Lonergan, who made it 3-1 and all but ended the tie heading into the final minutes before club captain Redmond lifted the famous trophy.
OPPOSITION WATCH:
Bohemians finished the 2023 LOI season in 6th place in the Premier Division, with 58 points from their 36 games.
Their first game this season was a 2-2 draw against Sligo Rovers at Dalymount Park last Friday.
A late James Clarke goal secured Declan Devine's side an opening day point.
These teams met four times in the League in 2023, the Saints won two, drew one and lost one of their encounters against The Gypsies.
The last league meeting of these sides was on October 20th 2023, with St Pat's coming out 2-0 winners on a wet and windy night in Dalymount.
Despite the poor weather, Saints fans travelled in their numbers to watch an impressive performance.
Second-half goals from Mark Doyle and Conor Carty secured the three points.
The most recent game at Richmond Park was in August, it ended 0-0.
The other occasion that the Inchicore men visited Dalymount last year was a 3-2 win in April, with the goals coming from Chris Forrester, Jay McClelland and Mark Doyle in a Dublin derby thriller - all of the goals came in an 11-minute spell in the first-half.
The first clash of last season's campaign was at Richmond Park where Johnny Afolabi and Dean Williams were on target in a 2-0 victory for Bohs.
This Friday will see Pat's and Bohs meet in the League of Ireland for the 191st time, The Saints have been victorious in 74 of those, with Bohs winning 62 and the other 54 ending all square.
St Pat's have won 7 of the last 10 meetings in all competitions, including the 2021 and 2023 FAI Cup finals.
SAINTS TRANSFER CENTRE:
Jon Daly secured his eleventh signing of the winter transfer window on Wednesday with the acquisition of Scottish full-back Kieran Freeman from Dundee United.
Freeman made 66 senior appearances during his time in Scotland, scoring three times.
Having started out at United, Freeman moved to Southampton at the age of 16 in July 2016, before returning to Dundee in January 2020, as the club went on to win the Scottish Championship.
Kieran also had a loan spell with Scottish League One side Peterhead.
He will wear the number 2 jersey for St Pat's.
KEELEY: "We have to be confident going into the game"
Winter recruit Conor Keeley adds wealth of experience to add to the back-line.
The 26 year-old played 33 times in the Premier Division for Drogheda United last season and is excited to step out for the first time in Richmond Park as a Saints player.
Having made an impressive league debut in Galway last week, the former Cabinteely and Ballymena United man is ready for action:
"It's going to be a good occasion. There's been 5,000 tickets sold so it's going to be really good.
Bohs have so much quality, they've made some really good signings.
It's going to be tough as all Derbys are but we have to be confident going into the game, like we were last week.
I payed at Richmond Park with Drogheda United twice last year, it was an unbelievable atmosphere. I'm really looking forward to it and experiencing it from the home side for the first time."
DALY: "The atmosphere is going to be through the roof"
Manager Jon Daly also helped us preview the big game:
"I think Bohs will be similar to last year in the sense that they're very good in transitions.
They've obviously lost Afolabi and replaced him with Reinkort, who looks like he can finish and hold the ball up.
I think it's going to be a tough game, and the atmosphere is going to be through the roof.
It's going to be a good one to be involved in and one we're very much looking forward to."
Watch more from Jon's press conference on our YouTube channel.
TEAM NEWS:
Tom Grivosti (knee and hamstring) continues to recover from his injury.
TICKETS / TV / UPDATES
Tickets for the game are completely sold out, the game will be live on LOITV.
As always, updates can be found on the Official St Pat's FC App - available now on both the App Store and Play Store.
Updates will also be available across all the club's social media channels.
Photo credit: Sportsfile
