Preview: City vs Pat's

Cork City welcome St. Patrick’s Athletic to Turners Cross on Friday night with eyes firmly set on widening the gap from the foot of the table.  

City currently sit ninth in the league and remain without a win in their last five games.  

St. Pat’s lie at the other end of the table in second place, just a point adrift from leaders Drogheda United. 

The last time the sides faced each other was on a notable occasion as a sell-out crowd at Turner’s Cross witnessed City’s first FAI Cup semi-final since 2018.  

Speaking at his weekly press conference in Bishopstown, City manager Tim Clancy shared his thoughts on his team’s recent performances:  

“In seven games we’ve played this season, we’ve gone ahead in five of them. We’ve shown we have quality, and we have got good players. It looks like late in games we are probably conceding territory and chances but that could be down to the experienced players we are missing.” 

“It seems that for sixty odd minutes we are really competitive and looking comfortable in games but we’re tiring a little bit where we don’t have the bodies available to make the relevant changes.” 

Disaster struck for City’s Ruairí Keating last time out in Derry, as an ankle injury sustained in added time led to the striker being stretchered off the field.  

This adds to the already lengthy list of unavailable players such as Sean Maguire, Greg Bolger, Malik Dijksteel, and more.  

Clancy commented on his side’s colossal injury list:  

“I’ve never been at a period where we’ve had so much significant injuries, in such a short space of time to players all in key positions.”  

“Ruairí will be out for six to nine months and that's being hopeful.” 

“Seani Maguire is into his second week running now, but we aren’t rushing him back. We hope he’ll be training fully in three weeks or so” 

In slightly better news, Evan McLaughlin is available after spending multiple weeks out.  

Friday’s opponents St. Pat’s suffered a similar blow during the week as striker and league joint top scorer Aidan Keena is set to miss up to twelve weeks through injury.  

Friday’s meeting is set to be officiated by Marc Lynch, who will be assisted by Darren Casey and Eoin Harte, while Mark Houlihan will be the fourth official.  

Make sure to follow the official Cork City FC Instagram, X (Twitter) and Facebook accounts for matchday content and live game updates! 

Where can I get tickets? 

Tickets for the match are on sale from the Club Shop in Douglas Village Shopping Centre, as well as from the Mace shop in Turner's Cross. 

You can also pick up your tickets online via TicketCo. We recommend getting your tickets online in advance to beat the queues on matchnight! 

How can I watch? 

The game will be streamed live on the official League of Ireland streaming platform, LOITV!