General
- Thursday April 11th, 2024 @ 13:00
Preview: Dundalk Vs Saints (12/04/24)
St Patrick's Athletic continue a busy period with a trip up the M1 to face Dundalk FC on Friday as they look to make it three wins in a row.
A packed away end is set to cheer on their side with a very small number of St Pat's tickets remaining HERE, supporters can also follow the action live on LOITV as well as on the Watch Party on the Official St Patrick's Athletic App.
The Saints come into this game off the back of an excellent performance on Friday as they beat Dublin rivals Shamrock Rovers 2-1 on an electric night by the Camac.
That win followed Monday's 3-0 victory at home to Sligo Rovers and a scoreless draw in Drogheda on Good Friday.
The Hoops struck first in the hotly contested Dublin derby, with Darragh Nugent putting his side 1-0 up after just four minutes as Stephen Bradley's side led at the interval.
However, Pat's struck twice in just three minutes early in the second-half to take all three points in front of a Richmond Park sell-out of over 5,000.
An inviting Brandon Kavanagh cross was powered home by Joe Redmond to level things up with a bullet header in the 54th minute, that was a first league goal of the season for the skipper.
Two minutes later, it was 2-1, Kavanagh doubled his assist tally for the evening as his cut found Alex Nolan on the edge of the box, the recently turned 21-year-old drove the ball past Leon Pohls in front of the away end to net his first league goal for the club and send Inchicore into bedlam.
Pat's defended well in the closing stages as Rovers pressed for a leveller with Conor Keeley making a goal-saving block and Danny Rogers in top form between the sticks.
Jon Daly's men have got 13 points from the opening series and currently sit in 3rd position in the Premier Division table, two points off second spot and eight off the top.
OPPOSITION WATCH:
Friday's fixture will be our 165th league meeting with Dundalk.
Of the 164 games so far, St Pat's have won 57, there have been 47 draws and Dundalk have been victorious 60 times.
It's already been a busy week at Oriel Park, as Dundalk announced on Monday that Head Coach Stephen O'Donnell had been relieved of his duties with the club also parting ways with Assistant Patrick Cregg.
First-team coach Liam Burns and Head of Football Operations Brian Gartland will take charge of the team tomorrow night.
Their last outing was a 4-1 loss away to Derry City in what proved to be O'Donnell's last match in charge.
Goals from Adam O'Reilly, Will Patching, Danny Mullen and Michael Duffy had Derry 4-0 in front, before Ryan O'Kane scored in the 75th minute to pull Derry's lead back to three.
The Lilywhites currently sit bottom of the Premier Division, with three points from their eight games.
Ex Saints John Mountney and Robbie Benson, who were part of our 2021 FAI Cup winning squad, could face their former club at Oriel Park.
These teams met just last month, Ruairí Keating scored the only goal on the half hour mark to secure a 1-0 victory at Richmond Park.
The sides faced off four times in the league last season, with two Pat's wins, both at Richmond Park as well as a draw and a5-0 Dundalk victory at Oriel.
A Tommy Lonergan double and a penalty from Mason Melia, who was celebrating his 16th birthday, gave Jon Daly's men the win in September 2023, as the Saints ran out 3-1 winners.
The last time Pat's visited Oriel Park it ended all square.
Conor Carty put the away side 1-0 up in the first half after great work from Sam Curtis, Jake Mulraney and Adam Murphy before Daniel Kelly got an 84th minute equaliser to salvage a point for the hosts.
Dundalk's first visit to Richmond Park last season was in May and it ended in a hard-fought home win.
Mark Doyle put us one to the good, before Rayhaan Tulloch pulled one back, Conor Carty, once again, scored to ensure the ten men Saints took all three points.
The first meeting between the sides last year was a 5-0 win for Dundalk at Oriel Park in March. Patrick Hoban, Louie Annesley, Rayhaan Tulloch, Daniel Kelly and Connor Malley scored the goals.
DALY: "We will need to be on top of our game."
Manager Jon Daly spoke to our website on Thursday morning and is hoping his side can continue their positive run of form on Friday night:
"We are all looking forward to the game.
We're coming into it off the back of two positive results (against Sligo Rovers and Shamrock Rovers) but know that Oriel Park is a tough venue to go to.
We will need to be on top of our game to get maximum points.
Dundalk have recently parted company with Stephen O'Donnell, so it makes the preparation a little more difficult for us.
They had a certain way of playing that we could plan for, now it's a little unknown as they may try something different.
We've focused on ourselves this week and what we can bring to the game and will need to adapt in game to whatever is thrown at us."
TICKETS / TV / UPDATES
A packed away end is set to cheer on their side with a very small number of St Pat's tickets remaining HERE, supporters can also follow the action live on LOITV as well as on the Watch Party on the Official St Patrick's Athletic App.
Updates will also be available across all the club's social media channels and our WhatsApp channel.
Photo credit: Inpho Sports
