Preview: St Patrick's Athletic vs Derry City - prediction, team news, lineups

Failure to beat visitors Derry City at Richmond Park on Sunday would leave St Patrick's Athletic's charge for the League of Ireland title at serious risk.

The second-placed hosts are the closest challengers to first-placed Shamrock Rovers, but their points haul of 43 means they trail the league leaders by seven points, while sixth-placed Derry City have 29 points after 25 matchweeks.

Match preview

St Patrick's Athletic have 11 games to overtake Shamrock Rovers if they are to claim their first league title 13 seasons, but they could find themselves trailing by 10 points by the end of matchweek 26.

Saints were last in action on July 24, when they were held to a 1-1 stalemate by Dundalk, and apart from a brief spell just before the hour mark, Sunday's hosts created sparingly little in the final third.

The hosts have now dropped seven points in their past four top-flight fixtures, conceding as many goals in that time (four) as they had in their prior seven league games.

St Patrick's Athletic have also struggled in attack in recent weeks considering they have netted one or fewer goals in six of their past nine League of Ireland matches.

Boss Stephen Kenny's side may only have taken a point against Dundalk, but that was the first time they were prevented from winning at home in five clashes, and a victory on the weekend would be their 11th success at Richmond Park in 15 contests at the stadium.

Derry City will be looking over their shoulders, as while they are seven points ahead of ninth-placed Waterford FC in the relegation playoff spot, that gap could shrink to four points by the end of the weekend.

The visitors may be at a slight disadvantage heading into their next fixture given they were in European action on Thursday, when they lost 1-0 to Rijeka - 2-0 on aggregate - and exited the Conference League qualifiers.

The Candystripes' overall form is concerning - they have lost four of their five most recent fixtures - but all four losses came in either the Europa League or Conference League.

However, Derry have still only won one of their last four top-flight matches (one win, one draw, two losses), and they scored six goals while conceding seven times in that period.

Head coach Tiernan Lynch will hope to end his side's winless streak of eight games on the road, but a defeat would be his team's sixth in nine away fixtures.

Derry City settled for two goalless stalemates in their encounters with St Patrick's Athletic this season, and the two clubs have in fact drawn each of their past three meetings.

St Patrick's Athletic League of Ireland Premier form:

St Patrick's Athletic form (all competitions):

Derry City League of Ireland Premier form:

Derry City form (all competitions):

Team News

St Patrick's Athletic centre-back Sean Hoare scored his side's only goal against Dundalk, and his place in the XI is certain.

The defender could be partnered by Joe Redmond and Luke Turner in a three-man backline, and the trio will likely be positioned behind midfielders Jamie Lennon and Barry Baggley.

Ryan Edmondson and Aidan Keena were not particularly effective last time out, and if they struggle once again, perhaps Sam Rooney will be brought on.

Derry could look to use wingers James McClean and Michael Duffy behind centre-forward Liam Boyce, who has scored two goals in his past six matches.

The attackers will need support from midfielders such as James Olayinka and Adam O'Reilly, but those two will also need to shield centre-backs Patrick McClean and Conor Barr from counter-attacks.

St Patrick's Athletic possible starting lineup:

Anang; Redmond, Hoare, Turner; Brown, Lennon, Baggley, Breslin; Leavy; Edmondson, Keena

Derry City possible starting lineup:

Maher; Cotter, Barr, P McClean, Fleming; O'Reilly, Dummigan, Olayinka; J McClean, Boyce, Duffy