Crowley out for Pat's

St Patrick’s Athletic will be hoping for a repeat of last year’s result when they take on champions Shamrock Rovers at Tallaght Stadium tonight (kick-off: 8pm).

St Pat’s were 2-0 winners in the same fixture last season and they have a strong squad available for the short trip to Tallaght.

Paul Crowley is missing as he is ruled out with a virus, while Brian Shortall is out with an ankle injury.

Saints assistant manager John Gill said: "The atmosphere will be absolutely electric in Tallaght and these are the type of games that players dream of being involved in.

"They've had a great start to the season, beating two of the fancied teams and winning in the Setanta Cup but this is a derby game and other things come into play that make these games a bit different and a bit special.”

Rovers have a full strength squad and Craig Sives comes back into contention after missing the first two league games with a hamstring injury, while Stephen O’Donnell also returns after serving a two-match suspension.

Commenting on the game against St Pat’s, Hoops boss, Michael O’Neill said: “We’re very happy with the start we’ve had to the season so far. We have good early momentum in our season, and our aim is to continue that.

“Not only have we picked up six points out of six so far, but we also did it against two good sides. We face another good side in St Pat’s, but we will be aiming to take another three points from the game.

“We had a huge crowd at our first home game of the season, and are expecting another big support on Friday night.”

The Hoops last game saw them pick up a 3-0 away win against Lisburn Distillery in the Setanta Sports Cup – a game which saw O’Neill make nine changes to the team that played the first two league games.

O’Neill said: “When we were putting our squad together, competition for places was what we wanted and the performance and result on Monday night shows we have that now.”