President's Welcome

Good evening and welcome back (virtually) to Richmond Park for this evening's visit of Longford Town. I want to extend a warm welcome to their players and officials. It's great to have them back in the Premier Division.

It's just seven weeks since the various pundits were making their forecasts for how the season would pan out, and there was a remarkable degree of consistency. Almost every one of them saw the title challengers as being the same three as last year, with no team other than Shamrock Rovers, Dundalk and Bohemians featuring in any predictions. We are, of course, still in the early stages of the season and much can change in the coming months, but anyone who still sees either Dundalk or Bohs as realistic challengers should pay a visit to their local bookmaker where they will be welcomed with open arms.

On the evidence to date, the threehorse race will be between ourselves and the two Rovers. As it happens, we play both in our next two fixtures, which should give us a better picture of our prospects, but as of now we are strong second favourites and it would be very hard to dispute that. Shamrock Rovers have carried on where they left off in terms of picking up results although not quite with the dominant performances that earned them the title in last year's half-season. They have had the resources to assemble an exceptional squad which will be even stronger

when Richie Towell arrives in the summer. It will be no surprise if they go on to better last season by winning a title over a full season.

And yet...

The team sitting proudly on top of the table, unforeseen by any of the experts, has gone quietly and efficiently about its business. Built on the most solid of defences, with steel and flair in midfield and a newfound cutting edge up front, it has never yet trailed in a match and but for two last-gasp equalisers would still boast a 100% record. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you St Patrick's Athletic, the pride of Inchicore and West Dublin.

Can we sustain it? That's a big ask but there seems to be a quiet confidence in the squad that we go into each match expecting to win. Of course, this is the most competitive of leagues, and the day you take a game for granted is the day you come a cropper. Tonight's opponents may be 12 points behind us, but they have already drawn with Bohs and Harps, beaten Derry and only lost to both Rovers by one-goal margins. They will not be pushovers and if we are to come out on top we will have to maintain the very high standards we've reached in recent weeks.