General
- Thursday June 27th, 2024 @ 15:53
Match Preview: Saints V Bohemians (27/06/2024)
The Saints return to Inchicore for a massive Dublin derby this Friday evening as they take on Bohemians.
Kick-off is on Friday evening at 7.45pm in Richmond Park.
The home allocation of tickets is almost sold out for the game, with under 100 left, with another fantastic atmosphere expected in Dublin 8.
For those St Pat's fans who won't be able to attend, the game will be shown live on LOITV.
The Saints come into this game off the back of a 2-1 win at Richmond Park against Shamrock Rovers on June 13th, prior to the international break.
In the sixth minute of added time, Brandon Kavanagh powered home from an Axel Sjoberg cross, earning his side all three points with seconds to play.
It looked as if both sides were going to have to be content with a point after Ruairi Keating cancelled out Johnny Kenny's opener for the visitors.
The Saints claimed a vital win, sparking joyous scenes at the full-time whistle in Richmond Park.
The Saints have got 27 points from their opening 23 Premier Division games and currently sit in 6th position in the Premier Division table.
OPPOSITION WATCH
This Friday will see Pat's and Bohs meet in the League of Ireland for the 193rd time.
The Saints have been victorious in 74 of those, with Bohs winning 63 and the other 55 ending all square.
St Pat's have won 6 of the last 10 meetings in all competitions.
The Gypsies are in 8th place, with 24 points from their 19 games.
Their last outing was a 2-1 loss against Derry City before the international break. Danny Grant opened the scoring for Bohs, before goals from Sadou Diallo and a late Danny Mullen goal stole the points from Alan Reynolds' side.
Out of the five meetings between these teams last season, none will be as memorable for those from Inchicore as the 2023 Sports Direct FAI Cup Final in November.
The Final - which saw a record-breaking attendance at The Aviva Stadium - was a special one for The Saints, as they lifted the FAI Cup for the fifth time in the club's history, after a 3-1 win.
Having gone 1-0 down in the 9th minute through a Johnny 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 as the sides went in level at half-time.
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 Redmond lifted the famous trophy.
The last game between the teams was on May 24th with the sides playing out a 2-2 draw.
Chris Forrester scored a penalty to put his side 1-0 up, before a James Akintunde equaliser. On the stroke of half time, Cian Kavanagh helped the Saints regain the lead. In the dying embers of the second half, Danny Grant scored to earn his side a point.
The only other meeting of 2024 so far was on just the second night of the season on February 23rd. A late Jordan Flores penalty saw Bohs' go back to Dalymount with the three points.
These teams also met four times in the Premier Division in 2023. Pat's won two (both at Dalymount), drew one and lost one of their encounters against The Gypsies.
KENNY: "It's a big few weeks for us"
Stephen Kenny is looking forward to another home game as St Pat's manager and will be hoping the crowd can make the home advantage count come Friday evening.
"It was an important win for the team against Shamrock Rovers. It was a real squad effort, with Ruairi Keating coming on and getting a terrific equaliser and Brandon Kavanagh coming off the bench to get a big winner in the 95th minute.
The week off was as we had planned it. We've been back this week, and one Dublin derby leads into another with Bohemians on Friday.
It's an important game for both teams and we want to make sure we are ready. It's a big few weeks for us.
The game tomorrow I think will be a much better game of football (than the last meeting).
There's a lot of skilful players on both teams and we have to try and utilise that to our advantage to get the victory that we need."
TEAM NEWS
Ryan McLaughlin is unavailable for the match.
Stephen Kenny has confirmed that Anto Breslin has trained all week and "comes into contention for selection".
TICKETS / TV / UPDATES
There are less than 100 home tickets available HERE.
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 and What's App.
