Bermingham and Kenna concerns for Saints

St Patrick’s Athletic travel to Tallaght Stadium tonight to take on Dublin rivals Shamrock Rovers in the Airtricity League, kick off 8.00pm.

For Saints, Pete Mahon’s only injury concerns are former Rovers defender Ian Bermingham and centre-half Conor Kenna, who both took knocks in Saturday’s game against Linfield.

Mahon said: “It’s great to have a big game like this coming so soon after Saturday’s result.

“It was disappointing to lose against Linfield, but I hope the lads will have learned a valuable lesson from the night.

“Like any Dublin derby it will no doubt be helter-skelter for the first twenty minutes before things settle down a little. We’ll want to bounce back from Saturday’s game and we’ll be going all out to win the match from the start.”

For Rovers, Gary Twigg (calf) and Dessie Baker (broken arm) are both out injured, while Aidan Price and Pat Sullivan are suspended. Craig Sives returns from suspension.

Hoops boss Michael O’Neill said: “With Dessie it’s a case of seeing how quickly his arm heals. As for Gary, he’s had an operation and is recovering well.”

He added: “I saw St Pat’s win their opening league game against Galway United and even though they lost away to Linfield last Saturday they’ve had a good start to the season.

“They’ve qualified for the Setanta Sports Cup semi-finals, have three points from their first league game, and we’d expect them to come to Tallaght with confidence.

“They’ve a lot of new players in their squad and they’ll be eager to show what they’re capable of in a Dublin derby – but we know what’s required of us.”