General
- Thursday June 16th, 2022 @ 15:27
Preview: Saints Vs UCD AFC (17/06/22)
St Patrick's Athletic will be back in action on Friday evening as they welcome UCD AFC to Richmond Park for the first match back after the mid-season break.
The game will kick off at 7.45pm in Inchicore, with home tickets available online HERE and away tickets via UCD AFC directly. A small number of home tickets may also be available from Richmond Park up to kick-off, these tickets are on a first come first served basis and we encourage all supporters to buy their tickets online in advance.
The match will also be live on LOITV with former Ireland international and ex St Pat's, Drogheda United, Blackburn Rovers, Preston North End and Burnley Keith Treacy joining Jamie Moore in the commentary box.
It's been a busy week so far, The Saints learned their Europe fate yesterday when the UEFA Europa Conference League qualifying draw took place in Switzerland.
They face a trip to either Moldova or Slovenia in the 2nd qualifying round.
Sfintul Gheorghe will face Mura in the first qualifying round on July 7th and 14th, with the winner due to face St Pat's r on July 21st and 28th.
The first game will be a home tie while the 2nd leg will be away from home with exact details still to be confirmed.
It has been a long three weeks since The Saints' last game, which ended in defeat to Dundalk, but Tim Clancy's charges will be hoping to return to winning ways against the students on Friday night.
Opposition Watch and Recent Meetings
UCD come into the game at the bottom of the table, with one win from their opening 18 games. They've drawn six and lost 11 matches so far, in their first season back in the Premier Division.
The Students have fond memories of Richmond Park, they beat Waterford in Inchicore in the relegation / promotion play-off to secure promotion last season.
Before the summer break, the students held Sligo Rovers to a 1-1 draw.
Karl O'Sullivan opened the scoring for Sligo, but UCD fought back and equalised through Dylan Duffy in the 69th minute to ensure spoils were shared.
UCD and St Patrick's Athletic have met on two occasions this season so far, with both games ending in wins for the Inchicore side.
They met back in March when it was a Doyle double. Eoin Doyle opened the scoring before half-time, and Mark Doyle then doubled the lead just after the break, which ensured the points stayed in Inchicore.
They travelled to UCD on the April Bank Holiday Monday and also came away with three points.
Colm Whelan put UCD 1-0 ahead after 70 minutes and it looked as if UCD were on their way to picking up their first win.
However, Ben McCormack equalised soon after, and a Mark Dignam own goal in injury time guaranteed the three points for Tim Clancy's men.
View From The Dugout
Assistant Manager Jon Daly spoke during the week about the European draw, the return to action following the summer break, and facing UCD for the third time this season:
"It was nice to get a little bit of a break where you can actually let the lads get away, recharge the batteries and then focus on the next half of the season.
I think it has been really good for them and it has also been really good for letting the injured lads get a bit of time to come back.
We have had two positive results against UCD. I think the performance there at The Bowl wasn't particularly great. I think we would have liked to have played better but we managed to come out with the win which was very important, and it is going to be really important now on Friday night.
Having watched their last game before the break against Sligo, I thought they were very good, in the second-half particularly. I thought they pushed Sligo right to the end and were probably unfortunate not to actually come out with three points from the game so we know.
Like most games in the league, if we are not at it, and we don't move the ball quickly and play the tempo then we cause ourselves problems so it is important that we play the game as much as we can in their half and take our opportunities in the game when they come."
Team news: Jamie Lennon is back in full training after recovering from a broken foot while Paddy Barrett has also returned to the training pitch as he recovers from an operation. Adam Murphy and Ronan Coughlan (both hamstring) will miss the game.
Tickets: The game will kick off at 7.45pm in Inchicore, with home tickets available online HERE and away tickets via UCD AFC directly. A small number of home tickets may also be available from Richmond Park up to kick-off, these tickets are on a first come first served basis and we encourage all supporters to buy their tickets online in advance.
LOITV: The match will also be live on LOITV with former Ireland international and ex St Pat's, Drogheda United, Blackburn Rovers, Preston North End and Burnley Keith Treacy joining Jamie Moore in the commentary box.
Updates: Alternatively, you can catch updates across all of our social media channels on Friday evening.
Photo credit: Inpho Sports
