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Preview: St. Patrick's Athletic v UCD

Monday 7th May 2007, 12:50 am

Saint Patrick's Athletic and UCD will provide the first qualifiers for the third round (quarter-final) of this season's League Cup when the two sides meet in Inchicore on Monday afternoon. Both sides are likely to shuffle their packs.

St. Patricks Athletic vs UCD
(Richmond Park - 3:00 pm - League Cup - 2nd Round)
Referee : Derek Tomney

The Saints' priorities are elsewhere this season with them still leading the eircom League of Ireland Premier Division. They are likely to field a team along similar lines to the one fielded against Portadown in their final Setanta Sports Cup group game, which contained a number of "squad" players.

UCD have made a habit fielding weakened teams in the competition in recent years - even when they reached the final in 2005.

Bring King, Pat McWalter and Paul Byrne all missed UCD's 0-0 draw with Bohemians on Friday - a result which extended UCD's unbeaten run to six games. They overcame Kildare County in the first round of this competition after a penalty shoot out.

The Saints have a number of injury problems going into the game. Michael Foley is set to again miss out while Dave Mulcahy and Alan Kirby both picked up injuries on Thursday's trip to Cork City. The Saints suffered their first league loss of the season on that trip, going down 1-0. Stephen Paisley was sent off in that game and may be included on Monday as he is now ruled out of Friday's eircom League game through suspension.

The two clubs are scheduled to meet again in league action on Friday night at Belfield Park. Three of the last four meetings between the clubs ended in scoreless draws while the other was a 1-0 win for Pats.

Previous meeting(s) : 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)
St. Patricks Athletic 0-0 UCD (14/10/2005)
UCD 1-0 St. Patricks Athletic (15/07/2005)
IrishFootballOnline.com Prediction: Home win.