Saint Patrick's Athletic are looking to bounce back from their Danish pasting as they return to League of Ireland action on Monday night. They will be hoping to maintain their chase of leaders Drogheda United and despite their rocky spell of late, they still boast the best home record in the top flight this year. UCD are the visitors to Richmond Park on Monday night.
St. Patricks Athletic vs UCD
(Richmond Park - 8:00 pm - Premier)
Referee : Declan Hanney
Live on Setanta Ireland
Having won just two of their last eight league games it's no surprise that the Saints have relinquished their lead at the top of the League of Ireland. Their 5-0 demolition at the hands of Odense in Thursday's UEFA Cup exposed not only tactical errors but also some of the unrest that has been rumoured in the camp as of late.
UCD are also out of form at the moment and had lost four consecutive league games before Conor Sammon slotted home an injury time penalty to claim a 1-0 win over Bohemians last weekend. The Students' early season form though has seen them retain some relative safety in the league table and they could climb ahead of Derry on Monday if they win.
Monday's meeting will be the third between the sides this year and the Saints would rather forget the two previous encounters which were within days of one other early in May. UCD knocked the Saints out of the League Cup at Richmond Park and then claimed a 2-2 at Belfield Park days later. Trailing 2-0, UCD salvaged a draw with two goals in the final five minutes.
The Saints are again set to be without Colm Foley, Gary O'Neill and Joseph Ndo. Ndo went off when the sides last met on 11th May and hasn't featured at all since. The Saints could also be without Michael Keane who hobbled off early on Thursday after surprisingly being risked from the start. Glen Fitzpatrick is likely to make his debut after recently signing from Drogheda. He will most likely partner Mark Quigley up front against one of his former clubs.
UCD's Shane McFaul faces a one game ban after accumulating four bookings while Paul Byrne looks set to remain out injured. Recent loan signing from St. Pats Paul Murphy will not be eligible to play against his parent club. Pat McWalter could be pushing for a return to the first team as he makes further strides after a long term injury while loan signing from Derry, Peter Hynes will also be in line to feature.
League form for St. Patricks Athletic : DDWLW
League form for UCD : WLLLL
Previous meeting(s) : UCD 2-2 St. Patricks Athletic (11/05/2007)
St. Patricks Athletic 0-1 UCD (07/05/2007)
UCD 0-0 St. Patricks Athletic (08/09/2006)
St. Patricks Athletic 0-0 UCD (23/06/2006)
UCD 0-1 St. Patricks Athletic (17/03/2006)
IrishFootballOnline.com Prediction: Home win.
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