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  General

• Thursday April 3rd, 2025 @ 16:00

Match Preview: Saints Vs Shelbourne (04/04/25)

St Patrick's Athletic host Shelbourne in a massive Dublin Derby on Friday night.

THE MATCH

It's the clash of two of Dublin's biggest clubs at a sold out Richmond Park with over 5,000 fans set to be in attendance.

The Virgin Media TV cameras will be in Inchicore for those who didn't get a golden ticket.

It's the meeting of 1st vs 4th.

SAINTS SCENE

The Saints come into the weekend top of the table, with 13 points from their opening seven games.

They returned to action after the international break with a dramatic 2-1 victory in Waterford.

St Pat's Manager Stephen Kenny welcomes midfielder Kian Leavy to the matchday squad for the first time this season after injury.

LAST TIME OUT

Brandon Kavanagh scored the winner with ten seconds of normal time to play at the RSC.

Kavanagh helped St Pat's to a late late win by supplying the cross for the equaliser just before, Blues defender Darragh Leahy turned it into his own net.

Friday night saw a second league debut for the club for Sean Hoare which was his 100th appearance for St Patrick's Athletic. He made his first in 2013 and played 98 times in his first spell until 2016. Sean's 99th app was in the LSC in pre-season before number 100 on Friday.

Jamie Lennon returned off the bench from the thigh injury he picked up on the opening night.

MOST RECENT MEETING:

30/09/24 - Al-Amin Kazeem scored the winner in a five goal thriller at Tolka Park last September. Joe Redmond and Brandon Kavanagh had The Saints two to the good before crackers from Rayhaan Tulloch and Matty Smith levelled things up before Kazeem's 88th minute close range finish.

STAT ATTACK:

This is the 151st League of Ireland game between St Patrick's Athletic and Shelbourne and the tale of the tape is tight with 56 Pat's wins, 59 for Shelbourne and 25 draws.

A whopping 448 goals have been shared between the sides.

MAGIC MOMENT:

Fans of both clubs will remember the 4-4 draw in the game of the season at Tolka Park in October 2022.

OPPOSITION WATCH:

2023 League Champions Shelbourne have won three, drawn three and lost one of their opening seven matches.

John Martin and Kerr McInroy got the goals in a 2-1 win at Sligo Rovers last Friday.

Current Reds Conor Kearns, Sean Gannon, Paddy Barrett, John Martin, Sam Bone and JJ Lunney are former St Patrick's Athletic players.

FROM THE DUG OUT:

Manager Stephen Kenny said: "St Patrick's Athletic vs Shelbourne is a real Dublin Derby, it is the derby for St Pat's and for Shels I feel, there's always an edge to it traditionally going back many years and certainly now. I came in at the end of last season and briefly had two experiences of this fixture. It's a sell out here (at Richmond), people in the club are inundated with ticket requests and that's a good thing. I'm sure everyone involved in the Derby is looking forward to it, we're ready to go."

PLAYER VIEW:
Anto Breslin: "We have a real edge when we play at home and we want to continue performing really well at Richmond. It's a Dublin Derby, Pat's v Shels and it has the makings of a great game."

Brandon Kavanagh: :"Richmond is so good when it's packed out, we're live on the telly too. That buzz around the around is great for us as players, we want to use that to help us on Friday."

TEAM NEWS:

Kian Leavy is available again after missing two months with an ankle injury.

Romal Palmer and Aidan Keena, both hamstring, will miss the game.

TICKETS AND TV:

This game is totally sold out, all home and away tickets are gone, it's live on Virgin Media 2 and VM Player, coverage begins at 7.30pm with kick-off at 7.45pm.

Image credit: Inpho Sports

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