Soccer
St Pat’s and Rovers lock horns again in Premier
By Daire Walsh
IT MAY be less than three weeks since their clash in the President’s Cup, but Dublin adversaries St Patrick’s Athletic and Shamrock Rovers will renew acquaintances once again at Richmond Park tomorrow night (kick-off 7.45pm).
The fourth game of the new SSE Airtricity League Premier Division season for both sides, there has been no shortage of drama whenever they have met in the past and there is no reason to suspect it will be any different this time around.
While Rovers came out on top against Pat’s on three occasions during the 2021 top-flight campaign, the stubborn Saints ensured they were made to work for their victories.
After the two teams had shared the spoils on the opening day of the season, the Hoops required a 92nd-minute Danny Mandroiu strike to claim all three points when they met in Inchicore on May 8. There was the same number of minutes on the clock when Stephen Bradley’s charges conjured a winner in the same venue on September 24 – a Nahum Melvin-Lambert own goal leaving the hosts crestfallen.
Additionally, Aaron Greene’s 89th-minute finish denied Pat’s a morale-boosting triumph on the first day out in 2021 after Roberto Lopes had diverted a Robbie Benson cross into his own net moments earlier.
You have to go back as far as May 2018 for the last time the Saints defeated Rovers in the league – a Graham Burke own goal and a Killian Brennan effort doing the business for them on that occasion.
A handful of players who featured on that night in Richmond are still involved, though many others have moved onto pastures new.
A win on home soil tomorrow would be a timely boost for the Saints, who have suffered back-to-back league defeats in the past six days.
Having comfortably overcome the challenge of Damien Duff’s Shelbourne in their opening game of the campaign, Pat’s were second best to Sligo Rovers at Richmond Park last Friday.
They were aiming to bounce back against Bohemians at Dalymount Park three days later, but a 49th-minute goal from Stephen Mallon ensured the north Dubliners came out on top.
Given there has been a significant change in playing personnel and coaching staff, it is not unreasonable to suggest it will take St Pat’s a little bit of time to fully gel this season. That being said, a third successive loss is something manager Tim Clancy will be eager to avoid.
Rovers had a disappointing evening themselves at the Ryan McBride Brandywell Stadium last Friday as Jamie McGonigle struck in stoppage-time to hand Derry City a surprise 2-1 win.
To their credit, the Hoops immediately recovered from this set-back by overcoming Drogheda United on a score of 3-1 at Tallaght Stadium on Monday – Sean Gannon, Jack Byrne and Graham Burke amongst the goals.
Despite having a defeat to their name, Rovers find themselves at the summit of the Premier Division table. Due to some weather-related postponements, four teams have a game in hand at this early stage in the campaign, but all 10 sides in the league have already dropped points.