The champions face the league leaders on Friday night as St. Patrick’s Athletic host Shelbourne in an eagerly anticipated match-up in round eight of the Premier Division.
There is just a single point separating Pats at the summit and Shels down in fourth, and the teams appear ready to battle for the title in 2025.
This fixture allows the sides to lay down a potential early marker of their title credentials. They are both coming off the back of victories in their last outings.
St. Patrick’s Athletic Appear Major To Be Major Title Contenders
Stephen Kenny’s team have been beaten twice on the road in their first three matches away from Richmond Park but have turned their home ground into a fortress.
It is now 11 League of Ireland Premier Division matches without defeat at home for Pats since suffering a 3-2 defeat to Dundalk in June.
In the opening seven fixtures of the current season, they have looked the best team in the division, averaging the highest for possession and shots per game of all teams in the top-flight.
Their late comeback against Waterford last time displayed the resilience of this team and the victory was all the more impressive considering they were without top scorer Aidan Keena, who leads the league’s scoring charts with five goals.
St. Patrick’s Athletic have arguably the greatest depth in their squad of all ten sides in the Premier Division, with the likes of Simon Power and Jamie Lennon making appearances from the bench last time out.
Tottenham Hotspur-bound Mason Melia is an excellent replacement for Keena in attack, and if Kenny can make his team harder to beat on the road, 2025 may be the season they end what is now a 12-year wait for a league title.
Shelbourne Have The Capability To Mount Title Defence
The one team that should be right up there with St. Patrick’s Athletic is Damien Duff’s defending champions Shelbourne.
Shels started the season by winning the President’s Cup to add to their league crown in 2024 and then went on to pick up back-to-back victories to commence the Premier Division campaign.
However, a four-game winless run, including three draws, halted their progress before the win at the Showgrounds last time out.
They had to suffer at times to pick up a much-needed three points, and it appears they have yet to fully click in attacking areas.
They do have Sean Boyd, Mipo Odubeko, Ellis Chapman and John Martin to call upon for goals with a wealth of creativity coming from further behind the main attackers.
Shelbourne will be a major force again in 2025 and look in better shape than last season in terms of squad depth and quality. The only major obstacle appears to be this Friday’s opponents.
Will Home Comforts Prove a Deciding Factor in Heavyweight Clash?
The last two head-to-head meetings saw the away side on the day pick up three points with the most recent at Tolka Park settled by a 3-2 scoreline thanks to a late winner from Pats’ Al-Amin Kazeem.
Both teams will look to dictate possession with Shels the most likely to have a higher share of the ball and appearing to have the stronger defence at this early stage of the campaign.
There should be little to separate these two, and this should be a high-quality match-up featuring two of the better sides to compete in recent history in the League of Ireland.
It should be an intriguing watch, but Kenny has made Richmond Park a fortress and they should take a result here with a narrow victory certainly possible.