LOI preview: Managerless Pat's aim to respond against Shamrock Rovers

An eventful week in the League of Ireland brings another round of games with the highlight being managerless St Patrick's Athletic making the short journey to Tallaght to take on Shamrock Rovers.

Behind the scenes the Saints are trying to find Jon Daly’s replacement having opted to part ways on Tuesday.

New signings have not settled well with Ruairi Keating not finding the target as much as last season with Cork City as well as injury halting any momentum he was trying to build.

With a large squad at his disposal, Daly ran out of time in trying to form a regularly-winning side.

The league remains wide open so all is far from lost. Sean O’Connor takes charge tonight as Pat’s look to inflict back-to-back home defeats on the champions.

Monday’s loss to Waterford was a major shock for the Hoops – the biggest since Drogheda United overturned them last year.

On that occasion Stephen Bradley’s team responded with a long unbeaten run and it would not be a surprise if that happened again.

Alan Reynolds comes up against his former colleague Ruaidhri Higgins when Bohemians travel to take on Derry City in the Ryan McBride Brandywell.

The honeymoon period is over for Reynolds as he spoke of likely changes to his squad after losing to Galway United on Monday.

Stephen O’Donnell will join him in the dugout for the first time since coming on board as assistant.

That position in Derry was filled by Reynolds during the FAI Cup success so he will know plenty about the Candystripes.

Derry were dejected at conceding late to Shelbourne having been just minutes away from topping the league.

Shels remain in that position ahead of their clash with Drogheda United.

Damien Duff hailed his players for the result and performance after Sean Boyd’s late goal.

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