English Premier
2009-03-13 - Cork City vs St. Patricks Ath.
A Sports Betting Pick by Footie Addict
Football: Republic of Ireland, Ireland Premier League
Friday, 13th March 2009 - Kickoff 19:45 GMT
This game is of definite interest to me. Cork City last season finished 5th, but only lost 2 games at home all season, and only conceding a miserly 9 goals in the process.
St. Patrick’s were 2nd last season, and had the second best away record in the league, but have had to shed a number of players at the end of the season, which is certain to cause a sharp disimprovement in last years away record of W12-D3-L1.
This deterioration in class has been highlighted very clearly by their 3-0 loss at home to unfancied Galway Utd on day 1 of the season.
Cork City started the season with a 1-1 draw away at Sligo Rovers. This is a decent result considering Cork were the away team and there’s a long, long distance between Sligo and Cork geographically .. this would not have been to Cork’s advantage either. Cork have kept together most of the strong squad they had last year.
In the game vs Galway Utd, St. Patrick's fielded 7 new starts that didn’t gel at all well. Galway Utd last year finished 4th bottom and are not likely to be in the front pack chasing Bohemians, Cork or Derry by any stretch of the imagation. The management of St. Patrick’s have acknowledged that times are tough for them and that they need all the support they can get from their fans.
Its early doors in the League of Ireland (week 2) so there is little statistics to analyse. St. Patrick’s are a very different side to last year, so head to heads will not give us much valid information (For the record Cork won 1-0 away at St. Patrick’s, St. Patrick’s got a 3-2 win at home also, and a 0-0 draw at Cork).
The facts here are that with a similar squad last year Cork had a good home record, and that their fans are always loud and passionate at home. St. Patrick’s have lots of new signings yet to gel, as well as several missing players and a terrible 3-0 hammering at home on week 1 to Galway Utd.
I feel the price of 8/11 available for Cork to win a home to a disorganised and weakened St. Patrick's is the result of St. Patrick's good form of last season, and won't last for many more rounds in the league campaign as St. Pat’s weaker team will be recognised soon.
It’s possible that St. Patrick’s will improve when the new players get settled in ... but for now I’m taking Cork to open their home record with a win.
