Set pieces continue to fuel high-flying St Pat’s
Five wins in six games have flung St Patrick’s Athletic into the pool of early contenders for this year’s title.
Admittedly, Saints’ opponents on Friday night were a sorry-looking Waterford, who remain winless at the bottom of the league. But the patterns that constitute the platform for this run are consistent.
St Pat’s love to cross the football. They can swing it in from deep and they can get to the byline and clip it, but they particularly love crossing the football from set pieces, when tall defenders can stride forward to flood an opponent’s box.
Primitive notions of corner kicks might have you believing in the anachronistic route from corner quadrant to teammate’s head to goal, but the possibilities for an advantage from set pieces are far more varied. Take both of Luke Turner’s efforts last night.
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Twice, James Brown’s dead balls were swung in and cleared by Waterford defenders with relative ease, and twice Pat’s held on to their territory by managing to recover the second ball. Turner’s finishes were very different (and his first very fortunate), but they were made possible by the same instruction to stay forward.
Stephen Kenny’s side still look menacing in open play. Kian Leavy was the pick of their attackers on Friday in that regard, tricky and direct with the ball at his feet and always capable of escaping tight spaces. When that doesn’t unlock a defence, however, the set pieces can.
Ciarán Kilduff’s Dundalk show their mettle
Last October, three weeks after securing promotion via an emphatic League of Ireland First Division title, Ciarán Kilduff was reported to have left his role as Dundalk manager.
It looked like the latest vicissitude in a painful half-decade for the club. Financial crises and relegation had faded memories of dominance through the 2010s, and more gloom was threatening to cloud a rare interim of hope and celebration.
Thankfully for all involved, Kilduff committed to a new contract. Those of us who did not watch Dundalk with great regularity last season are beginning to understand the gravity of securing his signature.
On Friday night, they became only the second side to score against Bohemians in 2026. They could and probably should have brought an end to the league leader’s unbeaten start, despite an injury and suspension crisis limiting Kilduff’s selection and forcing him to name a smaller-than-standard squad.
Dundalk have lost once in eight games and are the league’s second-highest scorers. Their approach contrasts the usual efforts, plucky and determined, made by promoted sides to stay in the division. Instead, goals seem to be coming from everywhere.
At Dalymount, it was Gbemi Arubi that found the net, deservedly equalising after Patrick Hickey had made it 1-0 to the home side. As his manager pointed out at full time, Arubi should have scored a second moments later when he was denied from close range by Kacper Chorazka.
“He’s a proper handful. He can give anyone a tough time,” Kilduff extolled, before bemoaning the two points dropped.
This was a flat performance from Bohemians, but they remain unbeaten. Hickey continues to establish himself as a linchpin, and a first start for young winger Markuss Strods, who supplied the cross for the American’s goal, will be seen as a positive for Alan Reynolds.
Derry City collapse undermines new role for James McClean
During a bucolic period in the first half, it seemed as though the war was over. James McClean, it turned out, can still be an effective footballer when he isn’t asked to play in central midfield.
Retreating to the left side of a back three, Derry City’s star signing looked more comfortable in possession, permitted to drift wide and swing balls towards the centre when appropriate. Unfortunately, the second half exposed McClean’s vulnerabilities in a different light.
On the one hand, Drogheda United’s two goals were spectacular. Mark Doyle and Warren Davis produced extraordinary, quick-fire finishes to level the game. On the other, McClean looked out of place in the build-up to both, particularly the second goal for which Davis powered past the 36-year-old with brutal ease.
Tiarnan Lynch faces an unenviable conundrum. Two wins in eight have dampened hopes of a title charge. It is early days, but Derry’s transfer business as a whole seems questionable, particularly in defensive areas. The blame should in no way be wholly attributed to McClean, but given his profile, he will always commands huge attention, and right now he is an easy lightning rod.
If he has to remain in the team every week, Lynch needs to figure out a new plan to accommodate him.
Shamrock Rovers quietly impress
Galway United have had a good start to the season, with the concession of late goals betraying what should be a better points return.
John Caulfield had to rebuild a large portion of his squad in the off-season, and most of the new faces have settled in well. Defensive duo Gianfranco Facchineri and Arthur Parker look like great finds, and Kris Twardek, a dream of an attacker for Caulfield in terms of the ground he covers, has already returned four goals.
In that context, a routine 2-0 win for Shamrock Rovers on Friday night was impressive. Oftentimes, it is said that the Hoops haven’t had to be at their best to win a game, but while this may not have been the peak of their powers, it was an assured and deserved victory.
Victor Ozhianvuna’s performance will please Stephen Bradley, with the teenager doing well to exploit a compact, physical Galway defence in the first half. Once again, Rovers’ squad depth was evident, as Aaron Greene made his mark on the game with a fine goal from the bench. They move within three points of Bohemians, not that they are counting.
