Stephen Kenny’s St Patrick’s Athletic host Damien Duff’s Shelbourne in a massive Dublin Derby that could determine who the front runners of the league will be.
Shelbourne got back to winning ways last time out with a 2-1 victory over Sligo Rovers and St Pats continued their good run of form with a 2-1 win away to Waterford.
Team News
Both Aidan Keena and Romal Palmer are both expected to absent from the St Pats squad due to injury but on a positive note Kian Leavy is set to return from his injury that has kept him on the sidelines since January.
Shelbourne will also be missing a few players due to injury, Tyreke Wilson, Daniel Kelly and Samuel Bone all unlikely to feature while Sean Gannnon and Paddy Barrett didn’t feature last week so it’s unclear as to whether they will be involved on Friday night.
Key Stats
In their four meetings last season Shelbourne won three and St Patrick’s Athletic won a game that many considered to be game of the season, with Al-Amin Kazeem scoring an 88th minute goal to secure Pats a 3-2 win.
Both sides haven’t been afraid of a booking so far this season, with both reviving at least 5 cards in 6 of their 7 games.
Key Players
Jake Mulraney hasn’t got off to the best start to the season, he’s yet to score and has only registered one assist. The St Pats winger is widely respected as one of the best players in the league and Friday night on live TV is where he needs to show it.
Ademipo Odubeko is another player that is highly thought of throughout the league but is yet to really show consistent quality and he’s another player that could show up in a Dublin Derby live on Virgin Media.
Betting Odds
St Patrick’s Athletic are the favourites going into this game priced at 5/6 with Shelbourne at 16/5 and a draw at 9/4
When and Where to Watch
The game will kick off at 7:45pm on Friday the 4th of April and can be watched live on Virgin Media Two in Ireland and on LOITV outside of Ireland.