St Pat’s hungry for three points
By Daire Walsh
ST PATRICK’S Athletic will be searching for a first win in three games when they welcome Dundalk to Richmond Park in the SSE Airtricity League Premier Division tomorrow night.
After a last-gasp 2-1 defeat to Derry City on the road back on March 18, the Saints were forced to be content with a sharing of the spoils against Drogheda United in Inchicore 14 days later.
Those results leave them seven points adrift of high-flying Derry heading into the latest round of fixtures.
Whereas last Friday’s clash with Drogheda saw current Saints boss Tim Clancy facing his former charges, the Meath native’s predecessor will be in the opposite dugout at Richmond.
After guiding Pat’s towards an FAI Cup success over Bohemians at the Aviva Stadium last year, Stephen O’Donnell subsequently took over from Tallaght man Vinny Perth at Dundalk for the 2022 campaign.
He had previously served the club well as team captain and given how much the Saints had developed under his watch, it was natural that the Dundalk board were so eager for him to fill the hot seat.
His former Lilywhite team-mates Robbie Benson and John Mountney also departed Pat’s in favour of a return to Louth and Sam Bone was also recruited by O’Donnell after spending a single season at Inchicore.
Fresh from being called up to the Republic of Ireland Under 21 squad, Darragh Burns was on target against Drogheda United last Friday.
After eight games in this year’s top-flight, Burns is currently the Saints’ joint-top league goalscorer alongside Eoin Doyle and Mark Doyle.
Firhouse native Eoin Doyle’s goal in the President’s Cup against Shamrock Rovers put him marginally in front in the scoring stakes.