Are Stephen Kenny’s Saints the real deal for 2025?
Saint Patrick’s Athletic head into the new League of Ireland season as a lot of people’s favorites for the title come November. The Inchicore club welcome cup winners Drogheda United to Richmond Park this Friday.
Pats were the league’s most in form team at the end of the 2024 campaign, with a lot of supporters wondering if the Saints would have won the Premier Division had former Republic Of Ireland boss Stephen Kenny come to them sooner than he did.
St Pats start to last season was atrocious for their standard following their cup win in 2023, so much so that the manager that led them to that triumph in the Aviva, Jon Daly lost his job.
His first game back in the League of Ireland came against eventual champions Shelbourne a late Evan Caffey goal sealed three points for Damien Duffs charges.
However, their form from September onwards saw them win nine games in a row propelling them into a title race which came out of nowhere. Notable result was the 3-0 win in Tallaght against Shamrock Rovers which damaged the Hoops chances of a historic fifth title in as many years.
Stephen Kenny knows how to win a title in the League Of Ireland – he won it four times with Dundalk during his spell, he also led out Derry City to play Paris Saint Germain in the 2006 UEFA Cup.
It was his time in Dundalk that will be remembered though as he not only won four leagues, he also brought Dundalk on a football fairytale in 2016 in their memorable European Run.
Kenny brought the Lilywhites to the Europa League group stages after only narrowly losing to Polish Giants Legia Warsaw, 3-1 on aggregate.
They would then go on to play AZ Almaar of the Netherlands, Israeli club Maccabi Tel Aviv and Russian powerhouses Zenit. Despite finishing bottom of their group, they picked up an impressive four points, a draw with Almaar in the Netherlands and a famous 1-0 win in Tallaght over Maccabi Tel Aviv, with Ciaran Kilduff, who now manages the Louth club netting the winner.
The recent transfer of Mason Melia to Tottenham Hotspur for €1.6 million has skyrocketed the transfer record as it is the first transfer of an LOI player that has surpassed the one million price tag. However, due to his age the 17-year-old is unable to start playing for the premier league giants until January 1st, 2026, which is down to Brexit rules.
So, he has one more year in Dublin as he aims to deliver Pats a first league title since 2013.
Melia was not just on the radar of Tottenham: European giants such as Celtic and Bayer Leverkusen were keeping tabs on the teenager
Pats run in last year’s conference league as a hugely impressive one with the club reaching the playoff round being edged out by Istanbul Baseksehir, who have had formidable pedigree in Europe in recent years, a 2-1 home win over Manchester United being arguably their most famous result in the Turkish club’s history.
St Patrick’s Athletic will be hoping they can have a similar run this time around, and depending on who they get, qualify for a European Competition for the first time.
Starting in the first round this season the South Dublin club will need to navigate 4 rounds of qualifying to make the League Stages and all the money that will come with it.
Pats have had a good record in the cup in recent years, winning it in 2021 and 2023 (Both against Bohemians) and will hope to win the famous old trophy again this time around.
As said before, Kenny has good memories of winning this competition with Dundalk notable winning it in 2015 as they beat Cork City to do the double, back when it was Cork and Dundalk as the benchmark of the League.
So, if anyone can win the cup again, it is Stephen Kenny.
Club owner Garrett Kelleher has given Kenny the resources financially to bring in quality, for example striker Aiden Keena, who was a Starman for Sligo Rovers last season, and bringing back talented
midfielder Romal Palmer, after impressive performances at the Inchicore based club last season while on loan from Swiss club Gotzepe.
They have retained the quality players from last season, Jake Mulraney has stayed put despite the interest from league runners-up Shamrock Rovers, Joe Redmond at the back has been one of the best players in the league over the last few years and remains with Pats this term.
Saint Patrick’s Athletic will have a couple of challengers for the SSE Airtricity League title, Shamrock Rovers are fresh off their heroics in the conference league (league stage) and will be hungry to claim the title back this season after narrowly missing out on the last day of the 2024 season. Shelbourne, the champions coming into this season, winning it in dramatic fashion from a late Harry Wood goal in Derry, they will be hoping to retain their title. Derry City, new manager Tiernan Lynch comes to the Candystripes from Irish League club Larne who played Rovers in the 2024/25 Conference League (the Hoops winning 4-1) can they win their first title in over 25 years.
As the shed end tifo once said: “there’s something brewing in Dublin 8” – now can they deliver?
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