Derry City vs St Patrick’s Athletic Preview
Derry City hosts St Patrick’s Athletic on Friday, November 3 at 7:45 PM in their last game of the season. St Patrick’s is level on points with Derry going into the final game, but Derry remains ahead on goal difference. With both teams on 62 points, this soccer match will decide who finishes second in the Premier Division.
The game will take place at the Ryan McBride Brandywell Stadium in Northern Ireland. The historic ground opened in 1928 and has a capacity of 3,700 for game day. Derry is looking to replicate their 2022 finish in the League of Ireland Premier Division. Whereas St Patrick’s are looking to improve on their fourth-place finish in last year’s topflight Irish soccer season.
Derry City FC vs St Patrick’s Athletic Head-to-Head and Key Stats
The teams have met four times already in 2023, including once in the President’s Cup, twice in the Premier Division, and once in the FAI Cup. Out of those four fixtures, Derry has just one victory against St Patrick’s Athletic, a 2-0 win at home on April 28, 2023. In the last meeting between the two sides, St Patrick’s beat Derry on penalties in the FAI Cup’s second round in August 2023.
St Patrick’s won their home leg when the two sides met in early June 2023, a 4-1 thumping at Richmond Park. The soccer game sparked into life when the Athletic doubled their lead with 62 minutes on the clock, thanks to a goal from Eoin Doyle. Derry’s only shot on target came three minutes later, a quick-fire response from striker Cian Kavanagh. However, a late flurry of goals from Chris Forrester and Mark Doyle won the day for St Patrick’s.
Derry’s last five results include only one defeat to Sligo Rovers and victories over Cork City and UCD. In their last six games, there have been five red cards. Three red cards have been to Derry players, and only one of these red cards across all six games came in the first half.
St Patrick’s Athletic has three victories in their last five games, including defeats to the league champions, Shamrock Rovers, and a 2-1 defeat to Drogheda United. In September 2023, St Patrick’s also saw several red cards, including four in five games. Two of the red cards were for St Patrick’s players, and they lost both games when down to ten men.
At the Ryan McBride Brandywell Stadium, the sides have met 31 times. Derry has won the day on 12 occasions and only lost to St Patrick’s eight times. The sides have shared the points 11 times, with 34 goals scored by the home side across the 31 games and 33 scored by St Patrick’s.
| Competition | Date | Home Team | Score | Away Team | HT Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FAI Cup | 20/08/2023 | Derry City | 0-0 (3-4)p | St Patrick's Athletic | 0-0 |
| Premier Division | 05/06/2023 | St Patrick's Athletic | 4-1 | Derry City | 1-0 |
| Premier Division | 28/04/2023 | Derry City | 2-0 | St Patrick's Athletic | 0-0 |
| Premier Division | 17/02/2023 | St Patrick's Athletic | 1-1 | Derry City | 0-1 |
| Premier Division | 30/09/2022 | St Patrick's Athletic | 0-1 | Derry City | 0-0 |
| Premier Division | 09/05/2022 | Derry City | 0-0 | St Patrick's Athletic | 0-0 |
| Premier Division | 29/04/2022 | St Patrick's Athletic | 0-4 | Derry City | 0-3 |
| Premier Division | 18/03/2022 | Derry City | 2-1 | St Patrick's Athletic | 1-0 |
Derry City FC vs St Patrick’s Athletic Predictions
Whenever you are looking to bet on the Premier Division, Novibet has the latest and best-paying odds. Looking at the soccer betting markets, Derry City is the favourite to win with odds of 61/100. That means a €10 bet will return €16 if you bet on Derry to win outright. The odds for a draw, or St Patrick’s winning, are similar, with ten euros returning €40 and €46, respectively.
Derry is certainly the bookie’s favourite to win on the day, however, do not discredit St Patrick’s chances. Seeing as it’s the last day of the season, anything could happen. Derry knows they must draw or win to hold on to the European football spot for two consecutive years. Whereas the only way for St Patrick’s to get second in the League of Ireland Premier Division is to beat Derry on the day. Derry has it all to lose and a pretty poor disciplinary record as of late.
Betting on the underdog on this occasion is not a bad idea, especially given the sizeable difference in returns. You could always wait for game day and place some live bets if you want to play it safe. Usually, you will get better odds placing a wager in advance, but placing live wagers is a legitimate way to reduce risk. Remember, you can place live bets on any soccer game, especially since the Irish soccer season is ending.
Given the number of goals scored between the two sides historically, it is unlikely that the match will end in a nil-nil draw. However, a draw is not completely out of the question. If Derry takes an early lead, they could easily park the bus and try to hold a narrow lead for the rest of the game. St Patrick’s needs the win. Anything less will ensure they miss out on second place in the division.
Overall, betting on Derry to win is the safest bet, but don’t forget that St Patrick’s will consider this football match a cup final. Especially since they take on the Bohemians in the FAI Cup final later this month. Betting on the underdog could be a smart move this Friday, especially if you are a new Novibet player. Any new players can claim a welcome bonus when they sign up today.
Derry City FC vs St Patrick’s Athletic Betting Tips
As we have already mentioned, both teams have seen a lot of red cards over the past ten fixtures. It could mean that a side might show ill-discipline in their biggest soccer game of the season. This could pave the way for players to bet on the number of yellow or red cards during the game. Seeing as Derry does not have any other competitions to worry about, they might leave everything on the pitch against St Patrick’s.
If you want to bet on the full-time result, Derry has not conceded a goal in four games. Betting on Derry to win one or 2-0 is a relatively safe bet. Especially since St Patrick’s has not scored a goal in open play at the Ryan McBride Brandywell Stadium since March 2022. At Novibet, Derry to win 2-0 is 7/1, which means €10 will net you €80 at full time. Placing the same stake for 1-0 will see you take home €75 if the prediction comes true.
Betting on St Patrick’s Athletic winning is certainly the less likely option, which is evident from the size of the returns. If you were to bet on the Athletic to win 2-1, a €10 bet would return €150. Any wager involving St Patrick’s winning has significantly higher returns than Derry. If you were thinking about betting on the underdog, you can afford to stake less and still come out with impressive returns.
Derry City FC Lineup
With Sadou Diallo set to miss the remainder of the season thanks to his red card against Shelbourne, Derry is likely to name a similar lineup to the team that faced Cork City at the end of October. Manager Ruaidhrí Higgins will name his strongest 11 to guarantee European football next season. That means we could expect to see an unchanged lineup from Derry’s last game.
- Derry City Predicted Lineup: B. Maher, R. Boyce, M. Connolly, C. McJannet, B. Doherty, A. O’Reilly, W. Patching, C. Dummigan, P. McMullan, M. Duffy, and B. Kavanagh.
St Patrick’s Athletic Lineup
There is one player on the injury list for St Patrick’s Athletic, Tom Grivosti. He will miss the rest of the season with a cruciate ligament injury. With a near full-strength side and a cup final in the middle of November, it is unlikely manager Jon Daly will want to chop and change his side. Getting one point from the game at Derry will not be enough to take second place in the Premier Division, so Daly will have to go for the win. We think he will go with a similar formation to the 2-0 defeat to Shamrock Rovers, a 4-2-3-1 with Lonergan leading the line.
- St Patrick’s Athletic Predicted Lineup: D. Lyness, S. Curtis, J. Redmond, D. Norman Jr., A. Breslin, K. Leavy, J. Lennon, M. Doyle, A. Murphy, M. Meila, and T. Lonergan.
