St Patricks v Cork

St Patrick’s Athletic vs Cork City Preview

St Patrick's Athletic sit in second spot in the Irish Premier Division and now just four points behind the league leaders, Shamrock Rovers, ahead of Friday night's tussle with the second from bottom outfit, Cork City, at Richmond Park where the hosts will be in confident mood after sweeping aside poor UCD in their last match.

St Patrick's disposed of the students of UCD in no uncertain fashion as the hosts registered a comprehensive 7-0 mauling of the hapless basement dwellers of the Premier Division and St Patrick's will be looking for more of the same when they play host to Cork City, having won six of their last eight matches overall.

Within this impressive sequence of results, St Patrick's have recorded home wins against Dundalk 2-1, Derry City 4-1, Shelbourne 1-0 and of course the aforementioned 7-0 rout of UCD, so further goals also cannot be ruled out here on Friday night.

St Patrick's Athletic have also impressed at home in recent times as the hosts have won their last five league games on the trot, scoring a total of 17 goals in the process and conceding just two goals in reply. Cork City had also enjoyed a winning run in recent times in the Irish Premier Division as the visitors had posted a four-match winning streak from mid-May through to early June which saw them collect wins against Sligo Rovers, Shamrock Rovers, Drogheda United and Bohemians respectively, but they've since slumped to three games without a win.

Three of these four wins that Cork City recorded were achieved on home soil at Turner's Cross but subsequent defeats to Dundalk and Derry City suggest this upcoming trip to face St Patrick's Athletic could end in further disappointment for the visitors, especially when you consider how poor Cork City's results have been away from home.

Cork City have managed to capture just one win from their previous 23 outings on the road which is an appalling record indeed and one that includes no fewer than 17 defeats in the process, thus making this upcoming clash a particularly daunting one for Cork City.

In addition, Cork City have failed to score in 14 of these previous 23 games on their travels and this does not bode well for this trip to Richmond Park.

St Patrick's Athletic v Cork City Verdict

A free-scoring St Patrick's Athletic outfit will be licking their proverbial lips with the prospect of poor-travelling Cork City visiting Richmond Park on Friday night, especially as St Patrick's have won each of the previous seven meetings on the trot against Cork City and this trend looks set to continue here on Friday night.

Therefore, our main bet will be St Patrick's Athletic win @ 1.53

Other side bets worth considering:

Over 2.5 goals @ 1.80

Correct score: St Patrick's Athletic 3-0 @ 8.50