A busy week which will see Dundalk play three games in the space of seven days gets underway on Friday night when St Patrick’s Athletic visit Oriel Park.
The Lilywhites are still looking for their first win of the season after a draw against UCD on the opening night of the campaign was followed by a 2-1 defeat against Bohemians last Friday.
New signings Johannes Yli-Kokko and Rayhaan Tulloch both came off the bench in Phibsborogh with Yli-Kokko becoming the first player from Finland to play – and score – for the club.
Stephen O’Donnell’s men won the corresponding fixture between the sides at Oriel Park last year when Daniel Kelly scored the only goal of the game in May.
Pat’s won the return game in October when Adam O’Reilly scored a last-minute winner in what proved to be Dundalk’s only home defeat of 2022.
Team news
Robbie McCourt serves the final game of a three-match suspension while Robbie Benson is close to a return. John Mountney (knee) is a long-term absentee.
Quotes – Stephen O’Donnell
“There wasn’t much between ourselves and St Pat’s in the four games we played last season and I think there’s going to be a lot of close games again this year and it’s going to be very competitive.“We’re looking forward to this one. We have trained well this week and as I said after the game with Bohemians last Friday night, I’m quite excited about the direction we’re going in.
“I can understand people wondering why I’m saying there were lots of positives even though we lost the game but I saw enough on Friday and I see enough on a day-to-day basis to know that we’re heading in the right direction.
“I’d be excited by quite a few of our individuals and I’d be very confident in the weeks to come that when everybody’s back up and running in training, and the new additions have had a bit of time to get a feel for the opposition and the league, that we’ll have a very good core and a good team and I can see us progressing really well as the season goes on.”
Quotes – Greg Sloggett
“It’s not the start we wanted but there’s a lot of new faces in around the team and I think it’s naturally going to take a couple of weeks to gel.“I think a couple of cheap mistakes cost us against Bohemians last week and we’ve just got to dust ourselves off now for the two home games coming up. We’re looking forward to them now and we’re all determined to put our best foot forward and try and make things right.
“We know the way this league can go when you have games on a Friday and Monday. A lot can happen and two wins on the bounce can really change the narrative of things so we’ll be ready to go, we’ll be hungry to go and get points on the board and make things right.”
How can I follow the game?
There will be pre-match, in-game and post-match updates across all of the club’s official social media channels – Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.
The match will also be broadcast on radio with Adrian Taaffe and John Flanagan providing commentary on LMFM while John Murphy and Gerry Cunningham will also be on your wireless on Dundalk FM.
Alternatively, you can tune into the same commentary team on LOITV which is streaming the match live for just €7. Supporters can also avail of an LOITV Season Pass which costs just €120 and gives access to all matches across the SSE Airtricity Men’s Premier Division, Men’s First Division and Women’s Premier Division.
Match Officials
Referee: Paul McLaughlin
Assistants: Robert Clarke and Shane O’Brien.
Fourth Official: David Dunne.
