• General

  • Thursday May 29th, 2025 @ 14:45

Match Preview: Sligo Rovers Vs Saints (30/05/25)

It's the final game before the mid-season break as St Patrick's Athletic make the trip to The Sligo Showgrounds on Friday night.

THE MATCH

  • It's the 166th League of Ireland meeting of The Bit O'Red and The Super Saints with both sides looking to pick up an important three points heading into the break.
  • The game will be live on LOITV.
  • Some away tickets remain via the Sligo Rovers website.



    SAINTS SCENE
  • St Pat's come into Friday evening off the back of a 2-2 draw at home to Waterford FC last Friday.
  • A win could move Stephen Kenny's side up to 2nd place in the League of Ireland Premier Division.
  • Jamie Lennon returns from suspension while Barry Baggley will miss the match having picked up his 5th yellow card on the campaign last Friday.







    LAST TIME OUT
  • An excellent month for 17-year-old Mason Melia continued with two goals as the spoils were shared with The Blues last Friday. Melia was named Man of the Match. St Pat's came from 1-0 behind early to lead 2-1 at the break before Conan Noonan's 81st minute equaliser levelled things up.



    MOST RECENT MEETING:
  • 28/02/25 - St Patrick's Athletic and Sligo Rovers played out one of the games of the season at Richmond Park with The Saints winning 4-3.
  • Aidan Keena (2), Zack Elbouzedi and Chris Forrester were on target for St Pat's with former Saint Cian Kavanagh netting twice for Sligo.







    STAT ATTACK:
  • St Pat's beat Sligo Rovers 2-0 on the last night of the 2025 season to make a club record equalling nine league wins in a row and secured a third placed finish and European football for 2025.



    MAGIC MOMENT:
  • St Pat's supporters will remember Ian Bermingham's 97th minute equaliser at The Showgrounds during the 2020 season with Brandon Kavanagh's 100th minute winner from the penalty spot at Richmond Park last recent also a recent memory. Dave McAllister's 2010 Goal of the Season is also a highlight.







    OPPOSITION WATCH:
  • Sligo Rovers have 12 points from their opening 20 matches and sit in 10th place in the Premier Division heading into this one, level on points with Cork City.
  • Sligo Rovers Manager John Russell won a Premier Division title as Saint in 2013 while Cian Kavanagh could line up against his former side.
  • Owen Elding scored one of the goals of the season for Sligo at Tolka Park last Friday but it wasn't enough to stop a narrow 3-2 defeat to Shelbourne.



    FROM THE DUG OUT:
  • Manager Stephen Kenny said: "We're looking forward to the game. Sligo Rovers have had a slow start to the season but their recent performances have been quite good with the win against Galway and they pushed Shels last week.

    From our point of view, we've got to get back to winning ways and we've got to go and put in a strong performance. You have to earn the right to win, we know we're going to have to roll our sleeves up and work hard in Sligo.

    Those three points are precious, they are invaluable, there is very little in it between 8th and 2nd at the minute so we need to try and get that win before the break if possible. We want to continue to carry that attacking threat, we've been scoring lots of goals but we need to tighten up as well and make sure that we are defensively solid.

    This is our 7th League game in May, it's been a really intensive period, we've had a full week to prepare between the games this time and we'll be trying to put in a performance and give ourselves a lift ahead of the mid-season break."




    PLAYER VIEW:
    Kian Leavy: "We're looking forward to the game. We want to finish the first half of the season strongly with a positive performance and a win. We had a great 4-3 victory at home to Sligo earlier this season and played really well and won on our last visit to The Showgrounds, we'll be aiming to do the same."



    TEAM NEWS:
  • Romal Palmer (hamstring) faces a period of time out of action. Barry Baggley is suspended after picking up his 5th yellow card on Friday night while Jamie Lennon returns from a one match suspension, Stephen Kenny says "we'll see how Chris Forrester is" after had to go off last Friday.



    TICKETS AND TV:
  • Some away tickets remain available via Sligo Rovers' website.
  • The game will be live on LOITV for those now at The Showgrounds.



    Image credit: Sportsfile

  • Next Fixture

    Galway United / June 20th @ 7:45pm
    Competition: League
    Venue: Eamon Deacy Park
     
    Team Pld Pts
    Shamrock Rovers2142
    Bohemian FC1933
    Drogheda United2131
    St Patrick's Athletic2130
    Shelbourne2130
    Derry City1928
    Galway United1925
    Waterford FC1923
    Sligo Rovers1915
    Cork City1913

    St Patrick's Athletic FC

    Founded in 1929 the 'Saints' play in the Premier Division of the SSE Airtricity League at Richmond Park, in Inchicore Dublin 8, Ireland.

    Contact Us

    125 Emmet Road, Inchicore, Dublin 8, D08 E0Y7, Ireland

    (+353) 1 454 6332
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