St Patrick's Athletic return to league action tomorrow night with Drogheda United visiting Inchicore.
Before we preview the big game, Christine Allen has been taking a look at the Saints squad for 2025 and at how preparations have gone for the big kick-off.
It's been a good pre-season for The Saints, the squad returned to training in December and hit the ground running again in early January.
Three competitive fixtures in the Leinster Senior Cup saw wins against Inchicore Athletic (2-0) and Bray Wanderers (2-1) and draw against Athlone Town (3-3) before a week long training camp in Spain.
St Pat's shared the spoils with MLS side the Vancouver Whitecaps (1-1) in Marbella, while a 2-1 victory against Norwegian outfit Molde FK in Estepona on February 1st was a nod to the intensive effort by the players and staff over the course of the winter - goals from Jason McClelland and Jake Mulraney sealed the win.
The final two games of pre-season followed last weekend, with a 4-0 victory against UCD at Richmond Park on Friday night and a 3-1 win vs Athlone Town at Abbotstown on Saturday.
Revellers at Richmond can look forward to seeing four new signings line out in red and white this campaign, with Simon Power, Barry Baggley, Sean Hoare and Conor Carty putting pen to paper in the off season.
A number of key players also extended their contracts over the winter.
2024 Player of the Year and Goal of the Season scorer Jake Mulraney, will remain in Dublin 8, he became the latest Saint to pen a new contract recently.
Danny Rogers, Jamie Lennon, Anto Breslin, Tom Grivosti, Axel Sjoberg, Ryan McLaughlin, Romal Palmer and Jason McClelland have also extended their stays in Inchicore.
With 2024 summer signings Joe Anang, Zack Elbouzedi, Al-Amin Kazeem and Aidan Keena remaining on board alongside a number of other players already under contract, including Captain Joe Redmond, Manager Stephen Kenny has an exciting squad to work with in 2025.
The group includes 17-year-old Mason Melia, who will remain at the club for the 2025 campaign, before joining Tottenham Hotspur for a record League of Ireland transfer fee next January.
You can watch our interviews with all of our new/re-signings on our YouTube channel and read the bios on all of the squad on our website.
THE MATCH
St Patrick's Athletic will begin their 2025 SSE Airtricity Men's League of Ireland campaign at home to 2024 Sports Direct FAI Cup winner Drogheda United on Friday night.
A packed Richmond Park will host the 2023 FAI Cup winners and the holders with kick-off under the lights at 7.45pm.
SAINTS SCENE
The squad is ready for the new season, Stephen Kenny's four new additions joined up with the squad for pre-season training in Dublin before a week long training camp in Spain, including two international friendlies, the squad played their final preparation matches last weekend.
St Pat's finished third last season and secured European football for 2025, they won their last nine league matches in a row, equalling a club record.
They'll play three of their first five league games at home with trips to Galway and Tallaght in between as they look to make a positive start to 2025.
LAST TIME OUT
St Pat's concluded pre-season with two friendly games against First Division opposition last weekend.
Sean Hoare, Aidan Keena, Brandon Kavanagh and Romal Palmer were on target in a 4-0 victory against UCD at Richmond Park on Friday before Academy teenagers Matthew O'Hara and Billy Hayes were among the scorers in a 3-1 win vs Athlone Town on Saturday, Tom Grivosti was also on the scoresheet at Abbotstown.
Pat's last league game of 2024 was a crucial 2-0 win in Sligo, Aidan Keena and Romal Palmer got the goals as The Saints equalled a club record.
MOST RECENT MEETING:
01/09/24 - A Jake Mulraney double, a Chris Forrester penalty and a Mason Melia cracker helped Pat's to a 4-1 victory against Drogs at Richmond Park.
STAT ATTACK:
These sides faced off four times in 2024, two of those ended 0-0 with Pat's winning the other two, both at home, the 4-1 win above and a 1-0 victory in May.
Pat's and Drog's have met five times on the opening day of the season, the first was back in 1979, while the most recent before tomorrow night was in 2013.
Friday night will be the 134th LOI meeting of these clubs.
DID YOU KNOW:
2025 will be St Patrick's Athletic's 75th season in the League of Ireland, while this is the 100th year of LOI football at Richmond Park.
The stadium has undergone some changes over the winter, safe standing has been added to Section G / Singing Section, increasing the overall capacity to 5,500. New dug-outs have been installed while we've almost doubled the number of toilets and increased the amount and variety of food/drink vendors around the ground.
MAGIC MOMENTS:
2013 - Shane McFaul scored a late winner at home to Drogheda in the opening game of the 2013 season.
2021 - A last minute Billy King goal secured the three points against Drogs during the Covid season.
2023 - Who could forget Chris Forrester's memorable goal against Drogheda at Richmond.
2024 - Mason Melia's cracker topped off a great 4-1 victory for The Saints in Inchicore.
OPPOSITION WATCH:
Drogheda United ended the 2024 season by winning the Sports Direct FAI Cup, beating Derry City 2-0 in the final at the Aviva. Like St Pat's, they'll be playing European football in 2025.
They retained their Premier Division status by beating Bray Wanderers 3-1 in the promotion/relegation play-off.
Former Saints Conor Keeley, Conor Kane, Luke Heeney, Ryan Brennan, Darragh Markey and Taylor Mooney as all part of Kevin Doherty's squad.
FROM THE DUG OUT:
Stephen Kenny: "The reality is we ended the 2024 season with nine wins and finished the league as the top scorers, but that doesn't earn you the right to start the league well the this season. We've got to roll our sleeves up and earn it."
PLAYER VIEW:
Captain Joe Redmond can't wait to get going: "We are really looking forward to it. The new lads have come in and spoken about the buzz in the stadium when they come here to play, so we're all excited to be back at Richmond. The majority of our home games last season were sold out, and with the extra capacity too, it's great."
Jamie Lennon has been speaking about the St Patrick's Athletic supporters: "You can really see the growth in the club and the league overall. You can see attendances are on the rise everywhere and it will be buzzing here on Friday. We'll need our fans this year, we're hoping we can give them a season to remember and our aim is to give them a team to be proud of and get behind week in, week out."
You can watch our interview with striker Aidan Keena on our YouTube channel on Friday.
TEAM NEWS:
Midfielder Kian Leavy underway surgery on an ankle ligament injury on Wednesday and will face up to eight weeks on the sidelines, Mason Melia (back) and Chris Forrester (illness) have both returned to full training.
TICKETS AND TV:
Over 4,600 tickets have already been sold for tomorrow night with the Main Stand and Patron Stand sold out, with a huge crowd set to be at Richmond, some tickets for the Camac Terrace/Shed end remain available on our website or from the ground on match night.
The game will also be live on LOITV with Oisin Langan and former St Pat's League and Cup winner Conan Byrne in the commentary box.
