19.45 27 Jun 2008 - Brandywell Stadium
Referee:
Preview: Derry City vs St Patricks Athletic
- Gareth Penrose
- Fri, Jun 27 2008
The Brandywell will be the venue for second versus third as Derry City look to leap frog St. Patrick’s Athletic in the Eircom Premier Division on Friday night (kick off 19:45pm).
St Patrick’s Athletic early season form seems to have deserted them as they head into this clash with only one win in six games, a return of 6 points from 18. Derry City on the other hand have accumulated 13 points from 18, dropping points against Cork City and Shamrock Rovers.
Stephen Kenny will be without Darren Quigley, who resumed training this week and Gareth McGlynn who is suffering from a knee injury. Kenny was happy with the win last week and hopes for more of the same.
"St Pats have quality players so it has the makings of an open game, but our lads deserve credit for a good victory last week at Drogheda, a well earned 3 points and we need another strong performance in what is an important week"
John McDonnell has mixed fortunes on the injuries front. Stephen Paisley and Jamie Harris return from their injuries, but Joe O’Cearuill (ankle), David Partridge (wrist) and Michael Keane (thigh) are all out. Damien Lynch returns from suspension.
McDonnell’s men have lost out twice already this season to Derry City, once in the league at home and once in the Setanta Cup in the Brandywell. Despite the recent departure of Paddy McCourt to Celtic, McDonnell is still expecting a very strong opposition.
“It’s our third time playing Derry this season and while they were a bit fortuitous to beat us at Richmond in the league we could have no complaints about the Setanta Cup defeat to them up at the Brandywell. I am delighted for Paddy McCourt himself on his move to Celtic and I suppose glad for ourselves in that we won’t now have to face him. However Derry have a very strong squad and are well equipped to replace him so as ever we’ll be expecting a very tough game up there.”
The Pat’s manager is also aware that matches will get harder with the approaching distraction of European football on the horizon.
“At this stage of the season they’re all tough games. Next week we face Finn Harps and then another long away trip to Cobh. There’s also the distractions of Europe and the transfer window, but we’ll just have to keep focused, get the results and keep on the heels of Bohemians”
The game kicks off at 19:45 in the Brandywell and our man Ciaran Duffy will be there to keep us up to date with all the action.
About Gareth Penrose
Gareth Penrose founded extratime.com in 2008 and has worked as a reporter / editor / developer on the site since.
Over the last 14 years, Gareth has covered games in the League …