The Blues are back in action at the RSC this Friday night, as we take on St. Patrick’s Athletic FC in our fourth home league game of the 2026, and we have everything you need to know ahead of kick-off.
Waterford FC vs St. Patrick’s Athletic FC
SSE Airtricity Men’s Premier Division
Friday 20th March 2026
RSC, Waterford
7:45pm
WATERFORD FC
Waterford welcome St. Patrick’s Athletic to the RSC this coming-Friday night for our first meeting of the 2026 campaign. The Blues will be looking to pick up a win against St. Patrick’s Athletic for the first time since summer of 2024 after drawing twice and falling to defeat twice against the Saints in 2025.
The Blues will look to bounce back from Monday night’s narrow 4-3 defeat against Galway United at Eamonnn Deacy Park this Friday night, with Pádraig Amond & Tommy Lonergan getting their names on the scoresheet along with an own-goal courtesy of Luke Heeney’s dangerous delivery in the first-half on Monday night.
The Blues remain with two points to their name at the foot of the SSE Airtricity Men’s Premier Division table, as they go in search of a positive result on Friday evening.
ST. PATRICK’S ATHLETIC FC
Stephen Kenny’s Saints have had an impressive start to life in 2026, with 14 points to their name after their opening seven league games.
St. Patrick’s Athletic were held to a scoreless draw at Richmond Park on Monday night against Derry City in what was the first mid-week round of fixtures this season. Prior to that, the Inchicore outfit went on a four-game winning run, securing maximum points against Drogheda, Shelbourne, Galway & Dundalk in the last fortnight.
The Saints sit in second position in the league table going into Friday’s game at the RSC, sitting just three points behind leaders Bohemians after seven rounds of fixtures.
JON DALY’S THOUGHTS
“It’s a massive game against St. Pats on Friday, we’re obviously extremely disappointed & frustrated with the weekend just gone. To go to Dundalk and put in the performance we did, it was embarrassing to be honest, and I’ve said that to the players. It was the first time in my career where I said I was embarrassed with what’s on the pitch, and I’ve felt for the fans because they’ve come up in their numbers and put in a really poor performance where we didn’t lay a glove on them.
We asked for a reaction then on Monday, and I felt we got that against Galway. I thought we played some good stuff in Galway, scoring three goals against a very difficult opponent. But ultimately we’ve coughed up four goals again which you look at and see there are a lot of errors that are getting punished.
St. Pats are on a crest of a wave at the moment, they’re in good form. But I believe in us and in our group. I feel we’re being punished for every mistake we make at the moment. We need to get back to basics on Friday night, and that’s been our work this week in training.”
PÁDRAIG AMOND’S THOUGHTS
“Every game is difficult in this league, and even more so when things aren’t going right for you, so it’s up to us to get going now. We’ve got to put our heads down now and work as hard as we can for Friday night and try get a result against St. Pats.
The mood in the dressing room is frustration, because we know we’re better than what we’re showing, but we do have to show that now and work as hard as we can to get that first win & get points on the board and hopefully we do get that on Friday night and go into the international break with a bit of momentum.”
TICKETS
Tickets are now on sale for tomorrow evening’s game against St. Patrick’s Athletic at the RSC. Back the Blues at home on Friday by securing your seat today. Click HERE to purchase your ticket today.
