Gavin out for Pat's

St Patrick’s Athletic will be missing influential centre-half Jason Gavin as they travel north to take on Dundalk at Oriel Park tonight (kick-off 7.45pm).

Gary Dempsey (broken leg), Mark Leech (broken leg), Gints Freinams (knee), Damien Lynch (calf) remain injured for Saints, while Bobby Ryan and Glen Fitzpatrick have returned to light training.

Leech had his cast removed and is expected to be back to light running next week and Dempsey is due to have is cast removed on Monday.

Pat’s boss Jeff Kenna said: “There was an improved performance against Sligo on Friday night and this represents another chance for us to build on that. Both ourselves and Dundalk are eager to get more points on the board so it will be a difficult and tight game.”

The Lilywhites are boosted by the return from suspension of George O’Callaghan and Declan O’Brien, who both sat out last Friday’s draw in Drogheda.

However, Chris Turner, sent off during that clash on Boyneside, now serves an automatic one-match suspension.

Left-back Dave Rogers is expected to miss out again, although he could return for the visit of Sligo next week.

Dundalk boss Sean Connor said: “I think they are actually one of the better teams that we’ve played so far this season.

“We know that it will be a massive game and an extremely difficult game. Last week’s result sets us up nicely; that was the first time this year we’ve got a win and gone away from home and got a point (back-to-back), and I think if you can average two points a game for the remainder of the season we’ll be certainly closer to the top than the bottom.”