General
- Thursday March 31st, 2022 @ 12:00
Preview: Saints Vs Drogheda (01/04/22)
St Patrick's Athletic face Drogheda United on Friday night at Richmond Park in their first game since the international break.
Kick-off at Richmond Park is at 7.45pm, with home tickets available HERE and away tickets available from Drogheda United directly.
If you can't make the game, it will be live on LOITV with Jamie Moore and ex St Pat's and Ireland manager Brian Kerr in the commentary box.
Ahead of the game, a host of St Pat's players have returned to training after being in international action over the last couple of weeks.
Sam Curtis, Sean McHale, Luke O'Brien, Adam Murphy and Darius Lipsiuc were all involved with the Ireland U17s in their Euro qualifiers in Portugal. James Abankwah, Josh Keeley and Kian Corbally were in the Ireland U19s for European Championship qualifiers in England while David Odumosu, Darragh Burns and Joe Redmond were away with the Ireland U21s for that brilliant 2-0 win in Sweden.
Jack Scott was also in action for the Northern Ireland U21s and featured in their games against Slovakia and France.
It has been two weeks since St Pat's last outing in which they were beaten by a 92nd Will Patching goal in Derry.
Patching had put Derry City ahead early on, but Tom Grivosti hit back with an absolute stunner to level proceedings before Patching broke Saints hearts with a late goal to take all three points.
Grivosti's goal was voted as Goal of the Month for March by the St Pat's supporters.
Opposition Watch and Recent Meetings
Tim Clancy faces his former side for the first time tomorrow night as St Pat's Manager. Clancy spent four seasons with Drogheda, leading them to the First Division title in 2020 and a 7th placed Premier Division finish last season.
Assistant Kevin Doherty took over as Manager and has overseen two wins and four defeats in their six outings for far this campaign.
Their most recent match was a 1-0 victory over Dundalk at Head In The Game Park.
Dean Williams scored from the penalty spot just after half-time and it was enough to ensure all three points stayed in Drogheda.
St Pat's and Drogheda met four times last season in the league with The Saints taking the spoils three times.
They first met in March of 2021 when a late Billy King goal proved vital as St Pat's ran out 2-1 winners after Ronan Coughlan and Dinny Corcoran had traded goals.
In the return fixture in Drogheda, The Drogs claimed all three points thanks to goals from Dane Massey, Mark Doyle and Jordan Adeyemo. Nahum Melvin-Lambert pulled a late goal back but it proved to be too little too late.
Their return to Richmond saw goals from Chris Forrester and Robbie Benson ensure the three points before their last meeting of the 2021 season in October, when a sensational goal from Alfie Lewis in the 94th minute stole all three points right at the death for the Inchicore side.
View From The Dugout
Tim Clancy is looking forward to facing his former side at Richmond on Friday.
"They are coming off a really good win against Dundalk in the Louth derby so it's going to be a really tough game.
We've had a good weeks training this week so we are looking forward to Friday.
It's going to be a bit of a weird one against my old team, but it is what it is, that's football. I have played against former clubs many times in Scotland and Ireland so it's something you get used to.
The turnover of players between ourselves and Drogheda from last season is huge, I think it's seven of the starting 11 from last season that we had there, have left, so it's completely different squads.
They've probably been unlucky in a few of the games where they didn't get anything and they're coming off a huge result so it is going to be a big, big game, and one we are certainly looking at to try and win."
Forrester On Fire
Chris Forrester has started the new season how he left off in 2021 and has been in superb form.
The 29-year-old netted the winner against Shamrock Rovers last month and has been a key man for the Saints this season.
"It's been a good season so far. In a couple of games we have lost, we could have even got a draw out of them.
Joe Redmond hits the bar against Sligo in the last minute. ThatÃÆ'¢€ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢€Å¾Ã‚¢s another point on the board and it wouldnÃÆ'¢€ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢€Å¾Ã‚¢t look so gloomy, but we have been good in our wins.
The last minute goal against Derry was a bit of a blow, but we had the week off to get that out of our system, so we are back ready for Drogheda.
Hopefully we'll have a packed out crowd at Richmond again. When they are behind us, we play a lot better and we work that extra few percent.
Drogheda have had a few good results this year so it's a game we will go into with full attention on them and full drive, it should be a good game."
Team-news: All of the internationals have reported back fit and well after a busy couple of weeks, however Jamie Lennon (foot) and Paddy Barrett (knock) will miss the game.
Tickets: Home tickets are available HERE and away tickets available from Drogheda United directly.
LOITV: If you can't make the game, it will be live on LOITV with Jamie Moore and ex St Pat's and Ireland manager Brian Kerr in the commentary box.
Updates: Alternatively, you can catch updates across all of our social media channels on Friday evening.
Photo credit: Sportsfile
