A lack of goals could be the biggest concern for St Patrick's Athletic under Stephen Kenny this season, according to RTÉ Soccer analyst Richie Towell.
The Saints began the season with a 0-0 draw against Bohemians in Aviva Stadium, which came on the back of a 2025 campaign where they averaged just 1.16 goals per match in the SSE Airtricity Men's Premier Division.
In a disappointing game yesterday, neither side carved out many chances to win, with Pat’s in particular raring threatening the opposition goal.
Pat’s netted 42 times in 36 matches league matches last season and had a dry spell in front of goal mid-campaign which coincided with a loss of form.
Kenny has recruited New Zealand international Max Mata to help alleviate the loss of Mason Melia, but the new signing picked up an injury in pre-season. Melia, now at Tottenham Hotspur, scored 13 of their 42 goals in the league.
Another capture, Ryan Edmondson, played with Aidan Keena yesterday on what was a frustrating afternoon for attacking players.
Having seen Zach Elbouzedi forced off in the first half, Kenny’s side could not engineer a lot in the final third.
Asked whether their struggles in front of goal will concern the Saints boss, Towell said: "Absolutely, especially after losing Jake Mulraney and Mason Melia.
"Last year, they probably would have been hanging their hats on them for the creativity and the goals.
"They've lost both of them. No Chris Forrester yesterday (who was an unused sub), that’s a massive call."
Towell was a free-scoring midfielder when working under Kenny at Dundalk and feels the trend in the Pat’s team in the last 12 months is a contrast to what he knew under the former Republic of Ireland boss.
"I know Stephen, he loves all out attacking teams, he loves goalscoring teams," he said. "Normally his teams are like that but last year they really struggled to score goals.
"The 42 last year was really low and they went through a really bad patch without scoring a goal, which is really concerning."
However, Towell did feel the result suited the Saints more than Bohs, as they look to leave a demoralising finish to 2025 behind.
The former Shamrock Rovers midfielder explained: "Obviously, they start this season and it's a 0-0 draw. I think if you had asked Stephen Kenny before the game would he take a 0-0 draw, I think he probably would have snapped the hand off you.
"I think so, especially in the Aviva, because he has a lot of new players after coming into the club as well.
"I think just to get points on the board, especially the occasion that it was, Stephen would have taken that."
Barry Murphy, who joined Towell on this week’s RTÉ Soccer Podcast, feels their injury woes are leading to the difficulties in front of goal.
Simon Power, a pacy direct winger, is also out injured after sustaining an issue in pre-season.
Kenny opted to go with more steel in midfield yesterday, rather than deploy Forrester or Romal Palmer in the middle of the pitch, although that is very likely to change in the coming games.
Murphy stated: "From the pre-season games, it looks like Pat’s were going to go with three at the back. They were kind of building up towards that. I was surprised that Jamie Lennon, Barry Baggley and McClelland all played together. Baggley was excellent on Sunday. He was sweeping up in the middle there.
"But Romal Palmer was sitting on the bench, which is creativity sitting on the bench, and you're looking at the players they brought in; Max Mata not there, Elbouzedi is now injured - how long is that for?
"You just have the better players missing for far too long. They're great players, great names on paper but getting them out onto the pitches is the problem and you look at what they've lost as well. I just looked at them yesterday and I thought they're set up to not lose this game."
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