STEPHEN KENNY reckons St Pat’s v Shels is the derby to beat all derbies.
The Saints host Shelbourne this evening before the Virgin Media cameras with the sold-out signs for the home end up since last week.
It is a clash between the league leaders and league champions, Kenny versus Damien Duff and both sets of fans know there is a lot of dirty laundry from the past too.
There were battles for cups and titles throughout the late 1990s.
And there were even fights in courtrooms at the turn of the century over the Paul Marney and Charles Livingstone affairs, which ultimately saw Shels win the 2001-02 league title after St Pat’s were deducted points.
Kenny managed the Saints’ Under-21s in the ’90s and knew of the hostility between the clubs.
He still sees it now, admitting: “I think St Pat’s and Shels is a real Dublin derby. I think that it’s the derby for St Pat’s and Shelbourne.
“When I was here as an Under-21 manager for a year many years ago, it was the derby.
“Pat Dolan was the manager at the time and Damien Richardson was at Shels.
“There was a big rivalry between the teams during that period.
“I think there is an edge between Shels and St Pat’s. Shels and Shamrock Rovers is more of a friendly relationship.
“They seem to be quite friendly and I don’t get a sense of a derby with Shelbourne and Shamrock Rovers.
“I know they call it the Ringsend derby but it seems to be quite friendly. Shamrock Rovers loaned Liam Burt to Shels.
“You don’t loan players to your rivals really, it just doesn’t happen.
“But I think this one is very unusual with Shels and Pat’s. From years gone by, it was a rivalry and it’s reignited now.
“It obviously is a sell-out, people are inundated with ticket requests and that is a good thing. There is an edge to the game.
“I’m sure everyone involved in the derby is looking forward to it.”
Kenny has only had two experiences of it last season with both games proving to be crackers.
In just his second game in charge of the Saints, Shels won at Richmond Park thanks to an injury-time goal from Evan Caffrey.
And Pat’s 3-2 win at Tolka — when they led 2-0 but had to score late to seal it — opened up the title race for the run-in.
Kenny added: “We needed that goal to get into Europe. That was important for us.
“It was a big win for us at the time to keep that momentum going.
“It’s a new season, we play each other four times in the league this year and this is the first of those games.”
The final one is on the last day of the season and TV executives may well wish that it will be the title decider.
But Kenny admitted no one at either club can think like that now or they will be tripped up.
He said: “It would be foolish of me to even think that way, there are so many other good teams.
“I don’t see it settling down into a pattern for a while. We are hitting our stride, I feel. It’s still early in the season.
“We’ll get a tough game, it has the makings of a great game. There were five goals scored in the last derby and you wouldn’t bet against that again.”
